JerusalemPost.com
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
29/01/2010 03:25
Dramatic warning delivered by Abbas’s former corruption-buster Fahmi Shabaneh; Fatah personnel even stole US money intended to improve its image ahead of 2006 elections. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has surrounded himself with many of the corrupt officials who used to work for his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, and that’s why Hamas will one day take control of the West Bank, Fahmi Shabaneh, who was appointed by Abbas four years ago to root out corruption in the Palestinian Authority, said on Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post, Shabaneh, who until recently was in charge of the Anti-Corruption Department in the PA’s General Intelligence Service (GIS), warned that what happened in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007, when Hamas managed to overthrow the Fatah-controlled regime, is likely to recur in the West Bank.
“Had it not been for the presence of the Israeli authorities in the West Bank, Hamas would have done what they did in the Gaza Strip,” Shabaneh told the Post. “It’s hard to find people in the West Bank who support the Palestinian Authority. People are fed up with the financial corruption and mismanagement of the Palestinian Authority.”
Shabaneh said that many Palestinians in the West Bank have lost hope that the PA would one day be reformed. “The Palestinian Authority is very corrupt and needs to be overhauled,” he said.
Shabaneh cited several specific cases of alleged corruption within Fatah and the PA in the course of the interview, including asserting that Fatah personnel stole much of a $3.2 million donation given by the US to Fatah ahead of the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election, won by Hamas, which had been intended to improve Fatah’s image and boost its chances of winning.
Shabaneh, a resident of east Jerusalem who worked as a lawyer before joining the GIS as its legal adviser after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, said he was forced to quit his anti-corruption job several months ago after exposing a sex scandal involving one of Abbas’s top aides in Ramallah in 2009.
Video footage and other documents presented to the Post by Shabaneh show the aide lying naked in bed after being lured to an apartment in Ramallah by an east Jerusalem woman.
The footage shows Shabaneh and other armed security agents storming the bedroom, much to the surprise of the Abbas aide who is heard uttering: “Thank God it’s you and not the Israelis.”
Shabaneh said in the interview, the first of its kind with a high-ranking PA security official, that he and his men had been operating on instructions from their boss, Gen. Tawfik Tirawi, the former head of the GIS. Tirwai, for his part, denied that he had authorized Shabaneh to spy on the Abbas aide.
The top aide, who is one of the closest advisers to Abbas, was caught on tape making derogatory remarks against Abbas and Arafat. “President Abbas has no charisma” and is “not in control,” he was quoted as saying. The aide was also caught on tape denouncing Arafat as one of the biggest dajjals (swindlers).
After the revelations, which were brought to Abbas’s attention and were embarrassing for the PA president, Shabaneh was removed from his anti-corruption post and reassigned as head of the GIS’s internal security force. More recently, he was promoted to overall commander of the GIS in the area.
Shortly afterwards, however, Shabaneh was arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of recruiting east Jerusalem residents to the GIS, spying on Israel, chasing suspected “collaborators” and Arabs involved in real estate deals with Jews, and threatening and blackmailing the senior Abbas aide.
Shabaneh has since been released from prison and most of the charges against him dropped. Today he remains under house arrest and is banned from entering the West Bank. The only charge he faces today is membership in a Palestinian military organization – a charge he claims is absurd given the fact that about 1,200 residents of east Jerusalem serve in the various security branches of the PA.
Shabaneh said that he had no doubt that his arrest by Israel was carried out at the request of “someone high in Abbas’s office to punish me for fighting corruption and exposing sex scandals involving not only the senior aide, but many other officials as well.”
He said that the decision to arrest him and prosecute him was also absurd because was always aware of his work and status in the PA security forces and never did anything to him.
“For many years I worked as legal adviser to the General Intelligence Apparatus and no one ever asked me anything,” Shabaneh noted. “When I was commander of the force in the area the Israelis even used to coordinate a lot with us.”
Shabaneh insisted that the decision to pursue corrupt officials in Abbas’s inner circle was part of the PA president’s declared policy to combat financial corruption. “In his pre-election platform, President Abbas promised to end financial corruption and implement major reforms, but he hasn’t done much since then,” he said. “Unfortunately, Abbas has surrounded himself with many of the thieves and officials who were involved in theft of public funds and who became icons of financial corruption.”
Shabaneh said that as head of the anti-corruption unit he and his men succeeded in exposing dozens of cases involving senior officials who had stolen public funds but were never held accountable.
“Some of the most senior Palestinian officials didn’t have even $3,000 in their pocket when they arrived [after the signing of the Oslo Accords],” Shabaneh said. “Yet we discovered that some of them had tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in their bank accounts.
Until today we didn’t hear about one official who was brought to trial for stealing money from the PA, although we had transferred many of the cases to the Palestinian prosecutor-general.”
Questioned as to why he had decided to go public now, Shabaneh said: “I’m not criticizing the Palestinian Authority simply because I like to criticize, but because I want to see a state of law, one with no room for corruption. I was offered $100,000 not to expose the last sex scandal, but I chose not to accept the bribe. I’m the one who resigned after my arrest, because after all that I’ve seen I no longer believe that Abbas’s authority can be reformed.
Asked whether PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is working to establish good government, Shabaneh said: “Salam Fayyad is a good man and I have a lot of respect for him. He’s really working to build professional institutions and good government, but the corrupt Fatah people around Abbas are doing their utmost to thwart his efforts.”
He added: “Even Abbas tried in the beginning, but the corrupt officials working with him didn’t allow him to make progress.”
Shabaneh also said he had managed to track down some of the financial aid that went missing during and after the period of Arafat’s death.
“I discovered, for example, that several senior officials had taken millions of dollars from the Palestinian leadership under the pretext that they wanted to purchase land that would otherwise be confiscated by Israel,” he said.
“Our investigations revealed that many of the purported land deals were fictitious transactions and we even forced one official to return more than $800,000. We had another case where a senior Fatah official and his brother pocketed about $2.5m. which they took from Arafat under the pretext that they wanted to purchase land in the West Bank before Israel lays its hand on it.
Asked whether he believed outside donors should stop channeling funds to Abbas, he said his advice to the donor countries “is to follow up on their donations to examine how and where the money is being spent. We caught some officials who stole about $700,000 from the donors to study the atmosphere in . Why do we need to spend such a huge amount of money on something trivial like this when many people are suffering and have nothing to eat or feed their children?”
Was he serious about Hamas taking over the ? “Yes, no question about that,” he said. “It will happen one day if the state of corruption and anarchy continue in the West Bank .Why do you think Hamas kicked us out of the Gaza Strip? Because the people there were fed up with the corruption and bad government of Fatah. What do you think the people in the Gaza Strip used to think when they saw a colonel in the Palestinian Authority driving in a big motorcade and surrounded by dozens of bodyguards and assistants?”
Did he see no chance that Fatah would reform? “As long as the same corrupt guys are running the show we shouldn’t expect real changes,” said Shabaneh.
“Before the 2006 parliamentary election, the Americans gave Fatah $3.2m. to improve the party’s image and boost its chances of winning. But the Fatah people even stole most of the money that was intended to help them improve their image and reputation. These corrupt officials know no limits. They even used to forge Arafat’s signature to obtain money by fraud,” he said.
Showing posts with label Gaza Strip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaza Strip. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Egypt Drilling to Block Gaza Smuggler Tunnels Sparking Gunfire
Bloomberg
January 24, 2010, 07:01 PM EST
By Daniel Williams
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Three construction drills that look like giant corkscrews pierce the ground close to Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, part of an effort to disrupt smuggling tunnels that has led to shootouts.
Smugglers and sympathizers of Hamas, the Islamic movement that rules Gaza, say pipes inserted into the holes will house motion sensors to detect underground traffic. Residents of the Egyptian border town of Rafah say the Egyptians are also constructing a subterranean wall made of steel panels to block tunnels at a depth of 18 meters.
The moves reflect a new determination by Egypt to control smuggling into the coastal enclave, which Hamas has ruled since 2007. Israel and the U.S. regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and have pressured Egypt to block the contraband, which includes rockets that have been fired at Israel. Though Egypt supports Palestinian independence, it opposes Hamas, which wants to create an Islamic state.
“This is a sensitive problem,” said Diaa Rashwan, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “Egypt looks like it is doing Israel’s bidding and the Egyptian people don’t like that.”
The construction has set off violence along the 14- kilometer border. On Jan. 6, an Egyptian border guard was killed by a Palestinian sniper a day after a clash between participants of a private aid convoy and Egyptian police over delivery of goods to Gaza. On Dec. 18, shots fired from the Palestinian side hit construction equipment, Rafah police officials said.
Criticism
Opposition parties at home and detractors in other Arab countries have criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for sealing his border with Gaza since the 2007 Hamas takeover. Israel has also shut its frontier with Gaza.
The blockade has crippled the economy in the coastal enclave, where 80 percent of the factories and shops are closed, according to Hamas officials. Palestinians rely on smuggled goods brought in through the tunnels for everything from cement to cigarettes to meat.
Egyptian Cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi declined to answer questions yesterday about the construction. He referred instead to remarks made by Mubarak to a police gathering.
“Egypt does not allow chaos on its borders,” Mubarak said yesterday in a speech broadcast on state-run Nile TV, according to the BBC monitoring service. “The engineering works and fortifications on our eastern borders are an act of Egypt’s sovereignty, about which we do not accept any arguments or interference from anyone, whoever he is,” he said, referring to the region that abuts Gaza.
He also warned against “targeting” of soldiers and facilities at the frontier.
‘Death Wall’
Hamas has rejected “the death steel wall that Egypt is constructing under the borders of the Gaza Strip, and calls on Egypt to stop building it because it suffocates the Gaza Strip,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
The Israeli army invaded Gaza in December, 2008, in a move it said was aimed at stopping Hamas rocket fire at its southern towns and cities, and has frequently bombed the frontier to destroy the tunnels.
The Israeli army has said that more than 10,000 projectiles were fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001 and that 21 civilians and four soldiers have been killed by the rocket and mortar fire. The Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza said that 1,450 Palestinians were killed during Israel’s invasion while Israel puts the number at 1,166.
In 2007, the U.S. government earmarked $23 million for “sensors, surveillance cameras, remote controlled robotic devices, seismic-acoustic tunnel detection equipment and the computers to process seismic data,” the Congressional Research Service wrote in a September 2009 report. The CRS is a research branch of the U.S. Congress.
U.S. Threat
Last January, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was “providing technical expertise.”
The U.S. Congress had threatened to reduce monetary assistance to Egypt because of alleged lax border control. The U.S. provides about $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt each year. Egypt stations 750 border guards along the frontier. Phone and e-mail requests to the U.S. Defense Department in Washington requesting information on American involvement were unanswered.
An Egyptian smuggler and Hamas supporter in Rafah, who would only identify himself as Islam out of fear of being arrested, said holes are being dug at intervals of about 50 meters and surveillance equipment is being lowered into the ground through the pipes.
“This is an escalation in technology,” said Islam. “Hamas will look for its own technology to defeat it.”
Egyptian police at Rafah declined to comment on the construction.
Sardines
Residents of the area just south of Rafah said Egyptian police have been cracking down on smugglers who sometimes earn 50 percent of proceeds from goods tunneled into Gaza.
“We can tell by the price of sardines,” said Ashraf, a smuggler who didn’t want to give his full name. “When smuggling is going well, there are almost no sardines in stores and if you can find them they cost 60 pounds ($11) instead of the usual six. There are plenty of sardines around now, so you know smugglers are having a hard time.”
--Editors: Louis Meixler, Peter Hirschberg.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Rafah at +2-010-330-2417 or dwilliams41@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at +972-2-640-1104 or phirschberg@bloomberg.net
January 24, 2010, 07:01 PM EST
By Daniel Williams
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Three construction drills that look like giant corkscrews pierce the ground close to Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, part of an effort to disrupt smuggling tunnels that has led to shootouts.
Smugglers and sympathizers of Hamas, the Islamic movement that rules Gaza, say pipes inserted into the holes will house motion sensors to detect underground traffic. Residents of the Egyptian border town of Rafah say the Egyptians are also constructing a subterranean wall made of steel panels to block tunnels at a depth of 18 meters.
The moves reflect a new determination by Egypt to control smuggling into the coastal enclave, which Hamas has ruled since 2007. Israel and the U.S. regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and have pressured Egypt to block the contraband, which includes rockets that have been fired at Israel. Though Egypt supports Palestinian independence, it opposes Hamas, which wants to create an Islamic state.
“This is a sensitive problem,” said Diaa Rashwan, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “Egypt looks like it is doing Israel’s bidding and the Egyptian people don’t like that.”
The construction has set off violence along the 14- kilometer border. On Jan. 6, an Egyptian border guard was killed by a Palestinian sniper a day after a clash between participants of a private aid convoy and Egyptian police over delivery of goods to Gaza. On Dec. 18, shots fired from the Palestinian side hit construction equipment, Rafah police officials said.
Criticism
Opposition parties at home and detractors in other Arab countries have criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for sealing his border with Gaza since the 2007 Hamas takeover. Israel has also shut its frontier with Gaza.
The blockade has crippled the economy in the coastal enclave, where 80 percent of the factories and shops are closed, according to Hamas officials. Palestinians rely on smuggled goods brought in through the tunnels for everything from cement to cigarettes to meat.
Egyptian Cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi declined to answer questions yesterday about the construction. He referred instead to remarks made by Mubarak to a police gathering.
“Egypt does not allow chaos on its borders,” Mubarak said yesterday in a speech broadcast on state-run Nile TV, according to the BBC monitoring service. “The engineering works and fortifications on our eastern borders are an act of Egypt’s sovereignty, about which we do not accept any arguments or interference from anyone, whoever he is,” he said, referring to the region that abuts Gaza.
He also warned against “targeting” of soldiers and facilities at the frontier.
‘Death Wall’
Hamas has rejected “the death steel wall that Egypt is constructing under the borders of the Gaza Strip, and calls on Egypt to stop building it because it suffocates the Gaza Strip,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
The Israeli army invaded Gaza in December, 2008, in a move it said was aimed at stopping Hamas rocket fire at its southern towns and cities, and has frequently bombed the frontier to destroy the tunnels.
The Israeli army has said that more than 10,000 projectiles were fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001 and that 21 civilians and four soldiers have been killed by the rocket and mortar fire. The Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza said that 1,450 Palestinians were killed during Israel’s invasion while Israel puts the number at 1,166.
In 2007, the U.S. government earmarked $23 million for “sensors, surveillance cameras, remote controlled robotic devices, seismic-acoustic tunnel detection equipment and the computers to process seismic data,” the Congressional Research Service wrote in a September 2009 report. The CRS is a research branch of the U.S. Congress.
U.S. Threat
Last January, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was “providing technical expertise.”
The U.S. Congress had threatened to reduce monetary assistance to Egypt because of alleged lax border control. The U.S. provides about $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt each year. Egypt stations 750 border guards along the frontier. Phone and e-mail requests to the U.S. Defense Department in Washington requesting information on American involvement were unanswered.
An Egyptian smuggler and Hamas supporter in Rafah, who would only identify himself as Islam out of fear of being arrested, said holes are being dug at intervals of about 50 meters and surveillance equipment is being lowered into the ground through the pipes.
“This is an escalation in technology,” said Islam. “Hamas will look for its own technology to defeat it.”
Egyptian police at Rafah declined to comment on the construction.
Sardines
Residents of the area just south of Rafah said Egyptian police have been cracking down on smugglers who sometimes earn 50 percent of proceeds from goods tunneled into Gaza.
“We can tell by the price of sardines,” said Ashraf, a smuggler who didn’t want to give his full name. “When smuggling is going well, there are almost no sardines in stores and if you can find them they cost 60 pounds ($11) instead of the usual six. There are plenty of sardines around now, so you know smugglers are having a hard time.”
--Editors: Louis Meixler, Peter Hirschberg.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Rafah at +2-010-330-2417 or dwilliams41@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at +972-2-640-1104 or phirschberg@bloomberg.net
Slowly but surely ... US Terror Blacklist Whitewashes Hamas, Enables Funding
Israpundit
January 24, 2010
US Terror Blacklist Whitewashes Hamas, Enables Funding
(IsraelNN.com) The United States Treasury has taken all but one member of Hamas off the international list of terrorists, thus enabling funds from the European Union to enter Hamas-controlled Gaza.
It is an open secret that large sums of money from the EU flow into Gaza in the guise of humanitarian aid and salaries for officials, but are actually funneled into the coffers of Hamas, which controls Gaza with an iron grip. This method of transferring funds into terrorists’ hands could have been blocked by an international lawsuit, but according to journalist Avi Tarango, the United States Treasury has made this impossible by removing all but one Hamas man – Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk – from the list of international terrorists.
Obama Administration Lifts US Ban on Muslim (IsraelNN.com) The Barack Obama administration has decided to lift a ban preventing Muslim Scholar Professor Tariq Ramadan from entering the United States. Ramadan, an Egyptian currently living in Switzerland, is a leading member of Europe’s Muslim Brotherhood branch and the grandson of the movement’s founder Hassan al-Banna. The Muslim Brotherhood is the parent organization for Hamas and some of the groups that recently merged into al-Qaeda, including Ayman al Zawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Bin Laden takes credit for Christmas Day attempt
In a recording carried by the Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel, Bin Laden addressed President Barak Obama saying the attack was a message like that of September 11 and more attacks against the US would be forthcoming.
“America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” he added. “God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue.” Brotherhood Leader
January 24, 2010
US Terror Blacklist Whitewashes Hamas, Enables Funding
(IsraelNN.com) The United States Treasury has taken all but one member of Hamas off the international list of terrorists, thus enabling funds from the European Union to enter Hamas-controlled Gaza.
It is an open secret that large sums of money from the EU flow into Gaza in the guise of humanitarian aid and salaries for officials, but are actually funneled into the coffers of Hamas, which controls Gaza with an iron grip. This method of transferring funds into terrorists’ hands could have been blocked by an international lawsuit, but according to journalist Avi Tarango, the United States Treasury has made this impossible by removing all but one Hamas man – Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk – from the list of international terrorists.
Obama Administration Lifts US Ban on Muslim (IsraelNN.com) The Barack Obama administration has decided to lift a ban preventing Muslim Scholar Professor Tariq Ramadan from entering the United States. Ramadan, an Egyptian currently living in Switzerland, is a leading member of Europe’s Muslim Brotherhood branch and the grandson of the movement’s founder Hassan al-Banna. The Muslim Brotherhood is the parent organization for Hamas and some of the groups that recently merged into al-Qaeda, including Ayman al Zawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Bin Laden takes credit for Christmas Day attempt
In a recording carried by the Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel, Bin Laden addressed President Barak Obama saying the attack was a message like that of September 11 and more attacks against the US would be forthcoming.
“America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” he added. “God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue.” Brotherhood Leader
Sunday, January 10, 2010
3 Palestinians killed in Gaza blast
Palestinians mourn after three Gaza militants were killed in an Israeli missile strike, in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, Jan. 10, 2010. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)www.chinaview.cn 
2010-01-11 01:37:38
2010-01-11 01:37:38The Israeli army told Xinhua it was checking if the explosion was a result of an Israeli attack on the fighters.
Hospital officials said a fourth gunman was seriously injured.
Meanwhile, security sources said an Israeli missile has hit the group shortly after they have fired the first rocket into an Israeli target beyond an electric fence that marks the borderline.
Israeli army confirms attack on Gaza militants
GAZA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army confirmed the striking of a group of Gaza militants in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah on Sunday.
An Israeli army spokesman told Xinhua that the Israeli soldiers hit a group of gunmen after they were discovered trying to fire rockets from the area. Full story
| Editor: yan |
Monday, December 21, 2009
Bereaved parents: Shalit swap like deal with Hitler
Bereaved parents demand to appear before government in bid to avert release of hundreds of terrorists as part of Shalit deal; letter compares deal to Munich Agreement between Britain, Nazi Germany
Ynet reporters
Published: 12.21.09, 16:35 / Israel News
Bereaved parents hoping to stop the release of terrorists in an exchange deal for captive soldier Gilad Shalit are demanding to meet with the forum of seven senior ministers before they make a decision on the deal.
"We demand to speak before the ministers who spoke at the open graves of our children and swore not to repeat the mistakes of the past, before they vote on the execution of a deal," the parents said.
Two representatives of the Haifa bereaved fathers' organization the "Three Fathers," Yossi Mendelevitch and Dov Sion, made their way to the Prime Minister's Office in order to deliver their letter to him.
In their letter, the bereaved fathers compare the agreement to the Munich Agreement signed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Hitler's Nazi Germany in March 1938, which permitted German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
"Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a historic move that will determine his fate – will he be remembered as one who led a line of security for his citizens, or will he be eternally disgraced as one who gave in to the enemies of the State and abandoned his citizens to the mercy of terror organizations?" The parents wrote.
"Netanyahu must not repeat the critical mistakes of the past. Anyone who is willing to give in should study the Chamberlain affair; his submission led to the outbreak of the Second World War. Netanyahu is about to surrender to Hamas and enable the next kidnapping and the next war," the letter continued.
'Running towards abyss'
In their letter, the parents claim that all parties involved in the deal know that it is not good for Israel. "Anyone can see that we are walking, or running, with our eyes wide open towards the abyss, with some of us wishing to stop and some of us hoping to make it to the bottom alive…Not everyone will remain alive after such an adventure, which the Israeli government is imposing on its citizens."
At the end of the letter the parents make their demand to have their voices heard before a decision is made: "The ministers must understand the meaning of their decisions, they must face us and hear what the families who have lost their children in terror attacks are going through, terror attack the likes of which are in store for us with the release of murderers in a deal."
"It is basic decency that we be allowed to express our opinion before those who are slated to determine our fate and the fate of our children."
The bereaved parents made a several attempts in recent weeks to delay a deal that would include the release of terrorists, including a failed petition to the High Court of Justice, as well as personal attacks on Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Ahiya Raved, Efrat Weiss, Aviad Glickman, Amnon Meranda, Ronen Medzini, and Naama Lanir contributed to the story
Ynet reporters
Published: 12.21.09, 16:35 / Israel News
Bereaved parents hoping to stop the release of terrorists in an exchange deal for captive soldier Gilad Shalit are demanding to meet with the forum of seven senior ministers before they make a decision on the deal.
"We demand to speak before the ministers who spoke at the open graves of our children and swore not to repeat the mistakes of the past, before they vote on the execution of a deal," the parents said.
Two representatives of the Haifa bereaved fathers' organization the "Three Fathers," Yossi Mendelevitch and Dov Sion, made their way to the Prime Minister's Office in order to deliver their letter to him.
In their letter, the bereaved fathers compare the agreement to the Munich Agreement signed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Hitler's Nazi Germany in March 1938, which permitted German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
"Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a historic move that will determine his fate – will he be remembered as one who led a line of security for his citizens, or will he be eternally disgraced as one who gave in to the enemies of the State and abandoned his citizens to the mercy of terror organizations?" The parents wrote.
"Netanyahu must not repeat the critical mistakes of the past. Anyone who is willing to give in should study the Chamberlain affair; his submission led to the outbreak of the Second World War. Netanyahu is about to surrender to Hamas and enable the next kidnapping and the next war," the letter continued.
'Running towards abyss'
In their letter, the parents claim that all parties involved in the deal know that it is not good for Israel. "Anyone can see that we are walking, or running, with our eyes wide open towards the abyss, with some of us wishing to stop and some of us hoping to make it to the bottom alive…Not everyone will remain alive after such an adventure, which the Israeli government is imposing on its citizens."
At the end of the letter the parents make their demand to have their voices heard before a decision is made: "The ministers must understand the meaning of their decisions, they must face us and hear what the families who have lost their children in terror attacks are going through, terror attack the likes of which are in store for us with the release of murderers in a deal."
"It is basic decency that we be allowed to express our opinion before those who are slated to determine our fate and the fate of our children."
The bereaved parents made a several attempts in recent weeks to delay a deal that would include the release of terrorists, including a failed petition to the High Court of Justice, as well as personal attacks on Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Ahiya Raved, Efrat Weiss, Aviad Glickman, Amnon Meranda, Ronen Medzini, and Naama Lanir contributed to the story
Sunday, December 20, 2009
EGYPT: Government under fire for new Gaza barrier
December 20, 2009 | 8:52 am
December 20, 2009 | 8:52 am
An underground barrier to prevent tunneling by smugglers along Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip has been dubbed a "wall of shame" by Arab writers and politicians across the region who criticize Cairo for siding with Israel in isolating the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in the seaside enclave.
Construction on the 30-meter-deep wall began a few weeks ago, but the Egyptian government -- which opposes Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza -- didn't acknowledge the controversial project publicly until over the weekend. The wall is regarded my many Egyptians as an affront against Palestinians.
"Whether it is a wall, sensors or tapping devices ... what matters is that Egyptian territory must be protected. Whoever says Egypt is imposing its control on the border, we tell them this is Egypt's full right," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying by Al Ahram Al Arabi weekly magazine.
The foreign minister's statements prompted Arab nationalist politicians and writers to accuse the government of President Hosni Mubarak of serving Israel's and the United States' interests at the expense of fellow Arab Palestinians. The matter highlights Egypt's close geographical and emotional ties to the Palestinians but also the complex political dilemma it faces in attempting to undercut Hamas.
"It is a wall of shame being built by Egypt on the borders with Gaza," wrote Ibrahim Eissa, chief editor of daily newspaper Al Destour. "It is like a total obedience to the American recommendations. We are opening our territories for a barrier that only serves and supports the Israeli and U.S. policies."
Eissa wrote that, regardless of his and many Egyptians' political perspective, building the wall was an example of the Egyptian regime's dictatorship.
"Unlike in Israel, where constructing a wall separating its territories from Gaza and the West Bank was debated in parliament and in the media before it was given the thumbs up, our regime was keen on classifying any information regarding the new wall," he wrote. "This is simply because Israel adopts a democratic system while Egypt doesn't enjoy such luxury."
Similar reactions echoed across the region.
"We can understand it when the Israeli government uses the same methods as the Nazis in transforming the Gaza Strip into a huge concentration camp," wrote London-based pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi."But what we cannot understand or accept is that the Egyptian government – and not the Egyptian people – should take part in such a crime for fear of the Israelis, and in an attempt to appease the U.S., getting nothing in return except humiliation and dishonor."
Palestinian journalist Mustafa Sawwaf wrote on a Hamas-affiliated website: "The issue has nothing to do with Egyptian national security, and more to do with Egyptian policy. As far as the borders with the Gaza Strip and the steel wall are concerned, this policy is linked less to Egypt's interests and security as it has become a tool for implementing U.S. schemes in the region."
The wall, dubbed "the steel barrier" by Egyptian media, prompted a number of MPs to file reports to the attorney general against the country's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, as well as official inquiries to the parliament on the issue.
"It is pitiful that Egypt, who previously demolished Israel's Barleev wall during the Egyptian-Israeli war (1967-1973), is now bringing up this barricade." said Muslim Brotherhood MP Hamdy Hassan. "Our government is alleging that it is for the country's own security while it is just another effort to stiffen the ongoing siege over our fellow Muslims in Gaza."
Egypt has tightened its border with Gaza since Hamas gained control of the coastal strip in 2007. But the smuggling tunnels -- transporting a range of goods, weapons as well as baby food -- were considered a lifeline by Palestinians who faced shortages due to Israel's siege of the territory. Cairo wants to weaken Hamas but at the same time does not want to appear to be unsympathetic to Palestinians or too cozy with America and Israel.
-- Amro Hassan and Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Photo: Construction on the Egyptian side of the borders with Gaza. Credit: Eyad Baba / Associated Press
December 20, 2009 | 8:52 am
An underground barrier to prevent tunneling by smugglers along Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip has been dubbed a "wall of shame" by Arab writers and politicians across the region who criticize Cairo for siding with Israel in isolating the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in the seaside enclave.
Construction on the 30-meter-deep wall began a few weeks ago, but the Egyptian government -- which opposes Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza -- didn't acknowledge the controversial project publicly until over the weekend. The wall is regarded my many Egyptians as an affront against Palestinians.
"Whether it is a wall, sensors or tapping devices ... what matters is that Egyptian territory must be protected. Whoever says Egypt is imposing its control on the border, we tell them this is Egypt's full right," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying by Al Ahram Al Arabi weekly magazine.
The foreign minister's statements prompted Arab nationalist politicians and writers to accuse the government of President Hosni Mubarak of serving Israel's and the United States' interests at the expense of fellow Arab Palestinians. The matter highlights Egypt's close geographical and emotional ties to the Palestinians but also the complex political dilemma it faces in attempting to undercut Hamas.
"It is a wall of shame being built by Egypt on the borders with Gaza," wrote Ibrahim Eissa, chief editor of daily newspaper Al Destour. "It is like a total obedience to the American recommendations. We are opening our territories for a barrier that only serves and supports the Israeli and U.S. policies."
Eissa wrote that, regardless of his and many Egyptians' political perspective, building the wall was an example of the Egyptian regime's dictatorship.
"Unlike in Israel, where constructing a wall separating its territories from Gaza and the West Bank was debated in parliament and in the media before it was given the thumbs up, our regime was keen on classifying any information regarding the new wall," he wrote. "This is simply because Israel adopts a democratic system while Egypt doesn't enjoy such luxury."
Similar reactions echoed across the region.
"We can understand it when the Israeli government uses the same methods as the Nazis in transforming the Gaza Strip into a huge concentration camp," wrote London-based pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi."But what we cannot understand or accept is that the Egyptian government – and not the Egyptian people – should take part in such a crime for fear of the Israelis, and in an attempt to appease the U.S., getting nothing in return except humiliation and dishonor."
Palestinian journalist Mustafa Sawwaf wrote on a Hamas-affiliated website: "The issue has nothing to do with Egyptian national security, and more to do with Egyptian policy. As far as the borders with the Gaza Strip and the steel wall are concerned, this policy is linked less to Egypt's interests and security as it has become a tool for implementing U.S. schemes in the region."
The wall, dubbed "the steel barrier" by Egyptian media, prompted a number of MPs to file reports to the attorney general against the country's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, as well as official inquiries to the parliament on the issue.
"It is pitiful that Egypt, who previously demolished Israel's Barleev wall during the Egyptian-Israeli war (1967-1973), is now bringing up this barricade." said Muslim Brotherhood MP Hamdy Hassan. "Our government is alleging that it is for the country's own security while it is just another effort to stiffen the ongoing siege over our fellow Muslims in Gaza."
Egypt has tightened its border with Gaza since Hamas gained control of the coastal strip in 2007. But the smuggling tunnels -- transporting a range of goods, weapons as well as baby food -- were considered a lifeline by Palestinians who faced shortages due to Israel's siege of the territory. Cairo wants to weaken Hamas but at the same time does not want to appear to be unsympathetic to Palestinians or too cozy with America and Israel.
-- Amro Hassan and Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Photo: Construction on the Egyptian side of the borders with Gaza. Credit: Eyad Baba / Associated Press
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Palestinian Authority Sets its New Strategy: Tempts Obama Administration with Instant Peace if it Pressures Israel.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
We now have Mahmoud Abbas's answer regarding short-term Palestinian Authority (PA) strategy. He says that ifThis is clearly bait being dangled for President Barack Obama, offering him an "easy" way out of his dilemma of not having any peace talks after almost a year in office: pressure Israel to give up more and you will look good, with plenty of photo opportunities of you presiding over Israel-PA talks.
Of course, what Abbas wants to do is to remove one of the main points of Israeli leverage, the borders to be agreed upon and the status of east
In addition, of course, he can't speak for about half the people and territory he claims to represent, that is, the Gaza Strip. And by not holding elections and unilaterally extending his term, Abbas leaves the door open for some future Palestinian leadership saying he had no legitimate mandate to negotiate and therefore any agreement he made isn't binding.
Finally, he made one very big misstatement of fact, hoping—as usual—that the West pays no attention to what's said in Arabic. He claims that the PA has stopped incitement against
The question is what will the Obama Administration do? Is it going to press
Indeed, it is now Obama administration policy that there need to be minor border modifications to accommodate the post-1967 changes on the ground. Moreover,
Incidentally, Abbas admitted that he never asked for an Israeli construction freeze before but is only doing so in the context of the Roadmap Plan. However, even after the Road Map, Abbas never made this a big issue until after Obama demanded the construction freeze. In objective terms, the president has no one to blame but himself for this mess, but of course he isn't going to blame himself. He has to blame either
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
Note: If you have not visited MERIA web site, please do so and save to your "favorites" - an outstanding place for separting facts from fiction regarding the Middle East! BeeSting
Friday, December 18, 2009
No rest for Gaza's Sinai smugglers
December 19, 2009
The Sinai's desert pathways are the supply routes for one of the world's most notorious smuggling operations, feeding, clothing and arming the people of the Gaza Strip, writes Jason Koutsoukis in Al Arish, Egypt.
We met our contact in Al Arish, the Mediterranean resort town in the northern Sinai located about a 45-minute drive from the Egypt-Gaza border.
Insisting on the sort of secrecy that would not have been out of place in an episode of Get Smart, the man, who called himself Abu Saad, emerged from a mobile phone shop near the Hotel Sinai Sun and got into the rear seat of our vehicle.
Given what it took just to get to Al Arish, talking our way through countless police checkpoints and roadblocks, perhaps his demand for the utmost discretion didn't seem unwarranted.
Directing us through Al Arish's tightly packed inner-city streets, barely wide enough to fit a single car, we eventually arrived outside a small warehouse about the size of a single-fronted house.
Leading us inside, he revealed a room that was stacked to the ceiling with contraband of the most lacklustre kind: vegetable oil, dry biscuits and several hundred cartons of cigarettes.
''All for Gaza,'' murmured Abu Saad. ''Everything you see in this room, will be sold to people in Gaza.''
Abu Saad took us to several other warehouses that he managed on behalf of a family he said was connected to the Tarabin people, a Bedouin tribe that controlled a slice of territory that extended all the way up to the border.
Of the 360,000 people who live in the Sinai, about 200,000 are believed to be Bedouin, literally ''men of the desert'', who originated on the Arabian peninsula. About 15 Bedouin tribes now share the Sinai along strict, agreed lines of demarcation.
''Most things come from Cairo,'' said Abu Saad. ''We store everything here until we can move them into Gaza.'' Abu Saad estimated that, altogether about 100 people worked full-time in the family operation.
''Many people here have family inside Gaza, there are very strong connections between us, so that's how we find each other to do business.'' He insisted that the only things the clan were specifically banned from dealing with were weapons.
''This is very, very much controlled by Hamas. Only Hamas knows about this, they have their own people over here.''
Flanked by the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba, the Sinai Peninsula is a sliver of desert sandwiched between the African and Asian continents.
Controlled over the last 100 years by Britain, Egypt, Israel, and, since 1982, by Egypt once again, the Sinai is one of history's most fabled crossroads.
According to the Bible, it was across the Sinai that the Israelites trekked in search of the promised land, while it was upon the summit of Mount Sinai near Red Sea that Moses received the Ten Commandments.
Yet today the Sinai's desert pathways are the supply routes for one of the world's most notorious smuggling operations that feeds, clothes and arms the people of the Gaza Strip.
Everything that money can buy in Gaza owes its provenance to Egypt and the sandy byways of the Sinai.
Petrol, electronic goods, livestock, small cars - you name the item and the chances are that buyers and sellers will be able to find a match in a tunnel somewhere beneath the 12-kilometre stretch of border that Egypt shares with Gaza.
Commodities trading is one thing, but for Hamas, the militant Islamic movement that has ruled Gaza since 2007, the Sinai's smuggling routes have become its only connection to the world outside.
In the 12 months since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead - a military offensive that involved more than 3000 air raids plus a two-week ground invasion - Israeli intelligence suggests that Hamas has been able to successfully rearm itself.
Not just with bulk explosives that are packed into the heads of the homemade Qassam missiles that Hamas has fired at southern Israel, but with military grade Katyusha and grad-style rockets that have the range and accuracy to hit large Israeli cities such as Ashdod, Beersheba and Ashkelon that are home to several hundred thousand people.
Millions of rounds of ammunition, assault rifles, hand guns, anti-tank weapons and other arms are also believed to have been smuggled through the tunnel network.
Last month, Israeli officials produced evidence of what it believed was the test-firing by Hamas of a new style of rocket that had a range of about 60 kilometres.
If true, that would give Hamas the ability to target Tel Aviv. ''We know they are keeping on smuggling in rockets and other weapons, because we can see a lot of what is coming in,'' says the retired major general Giora Eiland, who oversaw Israel's military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
''That is why we keep hitting specific tunnels today from the air every so often, because we are fairly certain of what we can see going into them,'' Eiland, a former director of Israel's National Security Council, told the Herald.
According to Eiland, the smuggling routes to Gaza are well defined. Mostly from Iran, via the Red Sea and up the Suez Canal to Egypt's Mediterranean port cities of Port Said and Damietta.
''From there, there are many ways to get across the desert, but in the end everything converges on Rafah,'' Eiland said.
The only way to prevent smuggling, Eiland believes, is to build a wall that encircles Rafah and establishes a buffer between it and the rest of the Sinai.
''Rafah is densely populated, there are many places to hide, so it is difficult to stop the smuggling once the goods get there. The key is stop things getting into Rafah in the first place and that can be done by building a fence around Rafah.''
Last week, Egypt revealed that it was commencing work on an underground wall made of steel along its border with Gaza to try to curtail the smuggling by preventing people from digging tunnels.
The steel wall is reportedly being built with the help of British and American military engineers.
Yet spend a little time in the southern Sinai, at one of the multitude of bars and nightclubs that have mushroomed along the Sinai's Red Sea coast over the past decade such as Pacha in Sharm el-Sheikh, and it doesn't take long to work out what the Sinai's other exports are.
Women working as prostitutes, most likely Russian or elsewhere in Eastern Europe, use the Sinai's Red Sea resorts as a first stop on the way to Israel and Middle Eastern countries.
The Sinai is also a major supplier of drugs, such as locally cultivated varieties of marijuana and opiates, to the region.
According to a 2004 report published by the US embassy in Israel, Egypt serves as the country of destination and transit for trafficking victims.
''It has been asserted that Egypt serves as the most common country of transit for trafficking to Israel,'' the report said.
''Victims are flown to cities such as … Sharm el-Sheikh and Cairo, from which they are transferred to Israel through the Sinai Desert.
Women are smuggled in groups, together with goods, drugs, weapons and migrant workers.''
With the 230-kilometre border that stretches across the Sinai peninsula from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Aqaba apparently porous all the way along, it seems that it will take more than the prospect of an underground steel wall to prevent goods and services from flowing across it.
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