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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: click here In-Depth Issues:
Abu Ala and Kadoumi Receive Millions from Arafat's Bank Account - Yossi Bar (Yediot Ahronot-Hebrew, 27Feb05)
Syria Withdrawing Billions from Lebanon - Roi Nachmias (Yediot Ahronot-English)
Russia Considering Weapons Sale to PA (AP/Jerusalem Post)
NSC Head: How to Test Palestinian Sincerity - Aaron Lerner (Israel Radio/IMRA)
See also Abbas: Tel Aviv Bombing "Against the Palestinian Interests" - Donald Macintyre (Independent-UK)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up amid a crowd of young Israelis waiting to enter a nightclub near the Tel Aviv beachfront Friday night, killing five and wounding dozens. The explosion sent bodies sprawling and covered the street and sidewalk with blood, body parts, and debris. "The important message that comes out of this is that there can be no compromise with terror organizations," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Sharon. The PA has taken "some steps which are important. But they have not taken the necessary steps of dismantling the terrorist organizations," he added. "In the case where the Palestinian Authority will fail, we will feel free to take whatever action is necessary to protect our citizens," he said. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday: "It is essential that Palestinian leaders take immediate, credible steps to find those responsible for this terrorist attack and bring them to justice....We now must see actions that send a clear message that terror will not be tolerated." (New York Times) See also Syrian-Based Leaders of Islamic Jihad Assert Responsibility for Tel Aviv Bombing - John Ward Anderson (Washington Post) See also Israel Says It Has Evidence of Syrian Involvement in Bombing (Voice of America) See also How Do You Tell Them? - Doron Sheffer Linda Buzaglo, who lost her husband, and Ofir Gonen, whose fiance was killed, are recovering from wounds sustained in the Tel Aviv bombing; soon they will have to be informed their loved ones are no longer alive. (Yediot Ahronot-English) See also below Observations - Sharon: No Progress Until Terrorism Is Eliminated (Prime Minister's Office) President Hosni Mubarak asked Egypt's Parliament on Saturday to amend the constitution to allow for direct, multiparty presidential elections this year for the first time in the nation's history. The proposal represents a sea change in a country with a 50-year history of one-party governments. (New York Times) See also A Qualified Welcome for Mubarak Proposal - Neil MacFarquhar (New York Times) Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syria captured and handed over Saddam Hussein's half brother, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a most-wanted leader in the Sunni-based insurgency, ending months of Syrian denials that it was harboring fugitives from the ousted Saddam regime. Some 29 other fugitive Baath Party members were handed over to Iraqi authorities as well. Al-Hassan was No. 36 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis complied by U.S. authorities; 11 from the deck remain at large. The U.S. had offered $1 million for his capture. Under Saddam, al-Hassan led the dreaded General Security Directorate, responsible for internal security and cracking down on political factions that opposed the Iraqi leader. Al-Hassan was accused of the widespread torture of political opponents. (AP/Los Angeles Times) See also Syria May Be Bowing to Pressure - Salah Nasrawi (AP/Washington Post) Iran and Russia ignored U.S. objections and signed a nuclear fuel agreement Sunday that is key to bringing Iran's first reactor online by mid-2006. Under the deal, Russia will provide nuclear fuel to Iran, then take back the spent fuel, a step meant as a safeguard to ensure it cannot be diverted into a weapons program. (AP/Washington Post) Tony Blair will host a gathering of 30 foreign delegations in London Tuesday primarily aimed at helping the fledgling government of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader. The meeting is aimed at helping the PA to rid itself of the legacy of Arafat's rule. (Times-UK) See also Rice to Press Arabs to Aid Palestinians Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to use a London conference Tuesday to press wealthy Arab nations to increase their aid to the new Palestinian government and make good on previous pledges of financial help. (AP/Newsday) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Sharon knows the Americans expect Israel to show restraint to give the new leadership in Ramallah a chance. Therefore, he will avoid a massive military response; instead the army and the Shin Bet security services will act to locate and apprehend those responsible. Israel will also pressure Abbas not to make do with understandings with the terror organizations, but to make arrests. (Ha'aretz) The Shin Bet's leadership is unanimous in its view of Mahmoud Abbas's limited ability to transform the security situation in the territories, on the eve of disengagement and beyond. At a time when Sharon's original plan is cloaking itself in expectations of bilateral cooperation, with Palestinians in the roles of peacekeeper, Abbas's incompetence is bad news for Sharon. Up to this moment, there has been no operational offensive by Abbas and his security bodies against terror other than well orchestrated brief detentions of suspects. (Ha'aretz) PA Interior Minister Nasser Yussef Sunday visited Tulkarm, where Friday's suicide bomber lived, to evaluate the operational capabilities of the PA security services there. Yussef, who took up his post Thursday, is responsible for the PA's security forces. Palestinian sources said Palestinian forces in Tulkarm and elsewhere are experiencing serious difficulties. "We do not have the authority to carry weapons, and we cannot promise the police that if they carry arms they will not be harmed by Israel," said a source. "Without guns, we can't take control of any armed group." The sources said it will take several weeks before the security forces function properly. PA security sources said most of their efforts had been to use groups affiliated with Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which cooperates with the PA, to try to obtain significant intelligence information. However, there were many groups not cooperating with the PA, and conflicts among the groups were preventing organized PA action. (Ha'aretz) A man driving on the Trans-Samaria highway on Sunday night said a man standing at the side of the road opened fire at his car. A preliminary inspection found several gun shots had hit the vehicle. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Syria's regime now is juggling for time. Syria is an outlaw state that has kept as many as 30,000 troops in Lebanon for nearly 30 years and has run that nation as if it were an annex of Damascus. Syria has supported practically every group in the Middle East's terrorist phone book, from Hizballah to Islamic Jihad, and most recently the insurgents in Iraq. Syria's government - as far from a democracy as one can get - has been implicated in numerous internal atrocities against dissenters. Syria's regime is a toxic force, for its own people and the other nations in the region. Its actions cannot be ignored. (Chicago Tribune) The latest Arab dictatorship to bow to the lesson of last month's Iraq elections is Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak asked parliament on Saturday to amend the constitution to allow for the first direct, multiparty presidential election in its history. Genuine democracy will be in the details, but the big news is that Mubarak felt obliged to move. Mubarak has long deflected U.S. pressure for political liberalization by claiming that the only alternative to his rule is Islamic radicalism. But September 11 taught us that Mubarak's dictatorship (like Saudi Arabia's) also incubates Islamic terror. He is silent about the anti-American venom spread in the Egyptian media and mosques. (Wall Street Journal, 28Feb05) See also How Egypt Molded Modern Radical Islam - Zvi Mazel (ICA/JCPA) Observations: Sharon: No Progress Until Terrorism Is Eliminated (Prime Minister's Office) Prime Minister Sharon told the Cabinet Sunday:
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