DISASTEROUS ARAB-AMERICAN AFFAIRS IN WASHINGTON-PART 1
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DISASTEROUS ARAB-AMERICAN AFFAIRS IN WASHINGTON-PART 1

July 31, 2001

WASHINGTON SCENE:

ADC - The Disastrous "GRASSROOTS" "Client Organization" In The U.S.
Part 1

MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 7/31/2001: The Arabs are so weak in the Middle East and in the world for reasons that go deep into history and culture. This isn't a genetic matter, it's the way they are politically and socially organized in "modern times" that creates an absurd situation whereby a small resourceless country like Israel can dominate some 23 Arab countries with a population nearly as large as the United States. Not to mention all that oil wealth, which has lead to all those petro-dollars, and of course the huge billion-plus Muslim population around the world.

And why are the Arabs so weak in the USA, unable even to hold a serious demonstration at the Israeli Embassy while tanks and helicopter gunships pulverize the Palestinian people enforcing a new apartheid reality, without any serious publications or real organizations to even begin to challenge the many that make up the powerful and well-oiled Israeli/Jewish lobby?

The answers are many and complicated but they all boil down to this. In the Middle East there was a balkanization brought about by the Western powers at the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in order to dominate and control the region's wealth, especially the "black gold" of the era. The Arabs have never recovered from those "divide and conquer" times, nor from the Paris Peace Conference in 1918... the infamous "Peace To End all Peace". The Arab peoples remain today severely controlled and repressed by either "client regimes" dependent on and infiltrated by the U.S. and Europe, or dictatorial military regimes -- all terribly repressive and corrupt including the newest of them all, the "Arafat regime". The al-Sabahs of Kuwait, al-Saud's of Saudi Arabia, the Hashemite's of Jordan, and the partially disguised military regimes in many countries of the area including Egypt, can all trace their origins back to this period. And history lives. The artificial creation of Kuwait -- once part of Iraq but for British intrique to further fracture the region -- was indeed at the root of the modern-day Gulf War. On and on....

Meanwhile in the United States -- especially in the capital of Washington, the Rome of our era -- the group of Arab and Muslim organizations that have sprung up is comprised essentially of "client organizations". The "client regimes" have in fact created or in some cases purchased these organizations with the primary goal being to protect their own narrow and self-serving regime interests. And they purposefully seek to keep these groups weak. fractured, unable to speak and do very much...i.e., mini and petty caricatures of themselves.

When it comes to the secular Arab organizations, joined in the last decade by a new group of client Muslim organizations, in total they have been a terrible disaster even though in recent years since the first Camp David treaty between Israel and Egypt they have together spent at least $100 million dollars -- the actual figure, as unbelieveable as it sounds, is probably closer to a quarter billion dollars! But whatever the precise figure, even now in 2001 the Arab American community, with about the same population size as that of Jewish Americans, has little serious to show for all the money and effort and remains extraordinarily impotent and usually pathetically juvenile at a crucial time in history. In many ways the plight of Arab Americans today is worse with these client organizations existing than without them.

The so-called Arab-American Institute is not really an organization -- it has no real following around the country and its founder is widely hated and despised. AAI is more a public relations firm for the "client regimes" and a few rich on-the-take and on-the-make fat cats who happen to be of Arab American ancestry. It's founder, Jim Zogby, is essentially a political whore always leaving a smelly trail everyone he goes.

The National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) collapsed last year in an orgy of self-destruction and small-time scandal. It now seems at least a million dollar special fund has vanished; but most of all so has the entire organization after spending huge amounts of time and money over the years. Worse yet, the agent of this destruction, Khalil Jahshan, is still around; for true to form the powers that be decided the NAAA suicide should be totally covered up and Jahshan should be given a lifeline (and hushed up of course) as Vice-President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)!

About ten years ago the founder of ADC, former one-term South Dakota Senator Jim Abourezk, privately urged the ADC Board to disband the organization and acknowledge it's failure. Instead those same powers that be, manipulated in this case by a former Arab League Ambassador, took over and twisted the already top heavy ADC into a mouthpiece for themselves. Shortly thereafter, Ambassador Maksoud then pushed his wife into the job of ADC President, and it was Hala and Zogby (working both sides of the street and each for their own reasons) who then helped bring about the destruction of NAAA for their own glory; even though ADC and AAI have had nothing directly to do with each other for some time now. (Zogby was unceremoneously and rather literally expelled with curses as ADC's head by Abourezk himself back in the 1980s).

In a nutshell that then was the beginning of the end for the "largest Arab American grass-roots organization" which today is like the Wizard of Oz -- lots of press releases and noise-making but those in the know realize it's just a little feeble group of hacks in ADC's Washington office screaming into megaphones always trying to fool everyone, most of all their few members and "chapters" around the country. This is a "grass roots" organization that can't even hold a serious demonstration at the Israeli Embassy two blocks from its offices in the middle of a major historic crisis; and which at the moment is busy with its incentuous annual picnic while the Arab world seeths in pain and anguish.

The FlashBack article that follows was written by a Palestinian American who has been living in Washington after graduating from American University with an advanced degree in management. It's about his his own personal experiences with ADC when he worked on the staff for a few months. And in the days ahead we'll publish an important update about how much worse things have gotten in the past few years along with a little telling anecdotal confrontation with those "powers that be" who incessantly strive to prevent any and everyone, including MER, from exposing such "realities" in both the Middle East as well as in today's Rome, Washington, DC..."The Washington Scene".

MER FlashBack to June 1998 - Washington Scene:

REALITIES OF THE AMERICAN ARAB
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE (ADC):

"Don't Eat those Bagels!" "Edward Said is our 'baby'"

MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 10 June 1998: What happens in the Middle East is greatly affected by what happens, and doesn't happen, in Washington. After all, Washington is the capital of the modern-day American Empire and home to the Israeli/Jewish lobby whose ability to twist and manipulate affairs relating to the Middle East has never been greater.

And consequently the interaction of government, lobbying organizations, p.r. firms, and organizations of various types in Washington is of growing importance; hence MER's emphasis on the "Washington Scene" in addition to the Middle East. This emphasis has been further stimulated of late by the censorship and attempts to cast aspersions about MER coming both from the Zionist organizations as well as Arab-affiliated "client organizations", among them the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) which holds its annual conference in Washington this weekend. Quite a few Arab-Americans come to the convention since they have nothing else to bring them together -- but as one of those attending writes to MER "I was an ADC intern...and I agree that the organization is fairly useless as a political entity. I basically go to the convention to see my Arab buddies that I only see at conventions".

The sad and tragic reality is that at this critical time in the history of the Middle East the Israeli/Jewish lobby has never been more powerful; the Arab "lobby" never more politically corrupt and deceptively misleading.

The following article is from a Palestinian graduate student who recently worked with ADC but was told to take a hike after appearing on the weekly MER-TV program to oppose U.S. and Israeli policies in the Middle East.

One note of caution. Everything that MER does it does in the open for all to consider and debate. Not so with ADC which has a long history of behind-the-scenes deceptions and self-serving duplicitous rumor-mongering. So please don't hesitate to get in touch with anything that comes to your attention regarding these matters; we'll continue to do what we can to let you know the truthful "realities" of what is going on, and if you prefer anonymity just let us know...of course we understand.

PALESTINIAN AMERICAN SPEAKS UP

THREE MONTHS AT THE ADC

By Omar Qourah*

"The screams of ADC National President Dr. Hala Maksoud interrupted us... The hollering went on for half an hour." "The Middle East could be going up in flames as far as they are concerned, but at the top of the ADC's concerns was any mention of ADC."

"Not much different it seems about the Arab-American organizations in Washington and the regimes we suffer from in the Middle East."

"DON'T EAT THAT BAGEL!" the baffled secretary was interrupted while creaming her bagel with cheese by a scream from a lady who works at the Washington National Office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

"It's Jewish food" she insisted.

Shocked and surprised at the remark, I ventured to say that bagels have actually originated in a Muslim province in China and were introduced to Europe through the commercial routes of the Silk Road in the Middle Ages. I added that this is a good example that cultures are hybrid. She looked at me in deep disbelief and kept silent. However, the same exchange occurred again several times in the next two weeks. The lady also frowned at me when I asked her if she had watched the previous day's episode of the popular TV series "Seinfeld".

At first, screaming seemed to be the norm in that office. In the same week, while chatting with a new intern in the office about issues facing Arab Americans, the screams of ADC National President Dr. Hala Maksoud at one of the senior ADC staff in the conference room interrupted us and caused us to look at each other in utter surprise. A journalist who was waiting to meet with the media director also tuned in. The hollering went on for half an hour. I tried to engage the visitor by talking to her, trying to distract her attention from the screams coming from the conference room. I later found out that the legal director of the office was forced to resign after all the screaming because she publicly supported a letter sent to the president of ADC calling for more democracy in running the organization in addition to financial accountability. The letter which was signed by 21 local chapter presidents and ADC activists all over the country also called the ADC annual convention "tasteless" and designed for the well-heeled, famous Arabs and for the Ambassadors and their friends.

Three months ago my uncle called me to tell me that a position has opened up at the ADC and that it would be a good idea to work there on the side while going to school. Fine I said. I have not really gotten involved with Arab Americans organizations before and I thought that this could be a rewarding experience now that I live nearby and attend American University. I got employed working twenty hours a week as an administrative assistant.

Since my field of studies is management information systems, I quickly realized that the office could use serious help. In addition, interns and workers complained about the outdated phone system and how a basic voice mail system could save everyone time. I expressed disbelief at the fact the media director's computer lacked Internet access. The office's fax machine frequently had a waiting line and broke down often. There was terrible lack of good office management. The slogan of the Office was: "I have no idea."

Maybe by the mediocre standards of many of the Arab world's institutions and organizations the ADC National office would pass fine. But this is an organization that claims to be involved in everything from standing up to AIPAC (the Israeli/Jewish lobby) to fighting discrimination against and stereotyping of Arab Americans. It always claims to be the "largest grass-roots Arab American organization." Reality, however, is sadly different.

One of the most important tasks at the ADC National Office I found out is monitoring the daily press for any possible mention of the ADC. Never mind the Bantustanization of Palestine. Never mind the sanctions killing Iraq. Never mind the seething frustrations throughout the Middle East. "We want to know what they say about us," I was told; and that seemed the most important thing of all.

Whenever there was a positive mention of the ADC in the press, clips of the article would quickly be faxed to supporters around the country. The Middle East, I realized, could be going up in flames as far as they are concerned, but at the top of the ADC's concerns was any mention of ADC.

The major project that the ADC was involved in while I worked there were the Quilt (Lihaf or sharshaf in Arabic), a large blanket consisting of interwoven 418 panels displaying Palestinian embroidery each representing a Palestinian village destroyed by the Israelis in the process of creating Israel fifty years ago.

The quilt is currently touring the country travelling from one city to another. It is scheduled for display at the Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on June 14. Amazing as it may sound, this Quilt campaign was supposed to counter Israel's extensive and widespread celebrations of fifty years of its founding! The Quilt project, we are told, is important because it represents the combined efforts of a dozen or so Arab and Palestinian- American organizations and associations. In fact, what it really represents is the lowest common denominator that these do-little-too-late groups were able to agree on.

Even with all these efforts, and all these organizations, I heard that only a handful of people bothered to attend the kick-off rally in New York City last month outside the U.N. There is no serious plan to follow up on any of this, no real "50th anniversary" agenda, and certainly no realization of the gravity of what is happening in today's Middle East. A related project was selling T-shirts and buttons to the different ADC chapters around the country -- not much success here either.

All this while Israel's anniversary celebrations included various TV specials and documentaries, and art performances in the J. F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts.

When Mid-East Realities (WWW.MiddleEast.Org) published a short and factual article about "The Quilt," an article which honestly spoke up about this whole farce ("The Arabs - More Impotent and Co-opted than Ever"), I read the article and went to work the next day trying to hold back my laugher (and disgust) about all this. Shortly, someone called in about the article telling them they "have been attacked"! The office erupted in frenzy, and then someone from Dr. Jim Zogby's office (Arab American Institute) called in eager to have the article sent to them too.

The eruption caused by that one little e-mail reminded me of my days of living in Lebanon when the sirens warning of Israeli bombing sparked a desperate search for shelter. When people at ADC found out that I regularly read MER, know well MER publisher Mark Bruzonsky, and even assisted a couple of times in producing the cable TV show (which never mentioned ADC), they approached me as if I was doing something surreptitious and awful. Nothing of the sort actually. I told them there was nothing secret here, that I had even interviewed the ADC Media Director, Sam Husseini, for MER-TV, months ago back in February outside the White House, along with Mark Bruzonsky. And then I was glad to be asked to appear on another MER program that was highly critical of U.S. and Israeli policies. The program is shown weekly on cable in Washington -- and its actually quite good; far better than anything ADC is doing about these subjects.

Even so, the reaction from senior ADC people was pretty much like the bagel - you are "associating with the Jews" they insisted, apparently referring to Mark Bruzonsky being Jewish, even though many Arabs and Palestinians eagerly follow and strongly support MER. The organizing director then told me, that MER "aims at undermining Arab American achievements" and cited an example a Palestinian organization called ROOTS from many years ago that "failed because MER spread rumors about it."

After this I found out that ROOTS really failed because of all-too-typical incompetence and corruption; and that MER didn't even exist when Roots did. Back when Roots was in Washington I now know large amounts of money was sent by Arafat to Washington for that organization as well as for two publications, "Jerusalem Report" and "The Return". These large sums, totalling into the millions of dollars, accomplished very little and everything they supported isn't even in existence now and few even remember. Furthermore, I now have learned, these two publications were those of Ramonda Al-Tawil, Yasser Arafat's mother-in-law, and her family members, who I am told got considerable sums of money sent to them and much of it was used by her and her family for such personal things as homes in Washington and Paris. Back in Palestine we had always heard rumors about these kinds of things; now in Washington I'm finding out most of them were true.

What was further despicable about what I found out at ADC is the use of prominent intellectuals such as Prof. Edward Said to prop-up ticket sales for the annual convention, and little else. One day I heard the chairperson of the ADC board of directors refer to Prof. Said as their "Baby". She added they knew how to get him to do whatever they wanted him to. The ADC did not seem to pay attention to the fact that Said's views about the "Peace Process" need to be heard by as many people as possible; for they spent little effort toward this goal and I never heard them discussing it. Rather, just as with the monitoring of the press mostly for mentions of ADC, really educating and mobilizing the American public is an afterthought at best. What matters is that people come to the annual convention, support ADC, and follow whatever ADC tells them to do. Others convention speakers too were invited on the basis of how supportive and on-board they were, not how effective or truthful.

One week before the convention, after I had worked long and hard calling people all over the country to come to the convention and received the praise of all of my supervisers for my energy and hard work, I was abruptly told that my services were no longer needed. Right then and there I decided to write something and send it to MER, as MER had been quite right about these things all along. When I asked if I would get to attend the convention as an ADC employee since I had worked so hard to register people I was told flatly by the blond, blue-eyed president of ADC, Dr. Hala Maksoud: "With all honesty, No, because you work with MER."

At least she was honest this one time. Not much different it seems about the Arab-American organizations in Washington and the regimes we suffer from in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, "Don't Eat The Bagels!", and cheers for "the Quilt".

* Omar Qourah is a Palestinian who recently completed graduate school in management at American University. He can be reached at OMARQ@MiddleEast.Or


July 2001


Magazine



DISASTEROUS ARAB-AMERICAN AFFAIRS IN WASHINGTON-PART 1
(July 31, 2001)
The Arabs are so weak in the Middle East and in the world for reasons that go deep into history and culture. This isn't a genetic matter, it's the way they are politically and socially organized in "modern times" that creates an absurd situation whereby a small resourceless country like Israel can dominate some 23 Arab countries with a population nearly as large as the United States.

IMPRISONED, TRAPPED, AND UNPREPARED BY ARAFAT
(July 31, 2001)
Arafat has once again trapped and imprisoned his own people -- keep reading. Wherever he has set up his headquarters corruption, repression, nepotism, and scandal have followed. And always these realities of what we have termed the "Arafat regime" are exploited to further fracture and weaken the Palestinian people -- a people whose basic claim to independence, "return", and reparations should at this point be unassailable.

DECEPTIVE AND OUT OF FOCUS REPORTS
(July 30, 2001)
About that report published "in full" in the Saudi Royal Family London newspaper Al-Hayat over the weekend and then, it now appears erroneously, picked up by Israel's top newspaper Ha'aretz. We already mentioned that the whole thing seemed suspicious. And sure enough with the Monday dawn of a new week and a little fast checking it seems the author, long-time military analysis and close CIA confidant at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Anthony Cordesman, says he didn't write it and the whole thing looks like a set-up.

AMERICAN STUDY: ISRAEL WOULD BE UNABLE TO REPEL ALL-OUT ARAB ATTACK
(July 30, 2001)
The report in Saturday's Ha'aretz is not up to their usual standards as names are misspelled and context missing -- it appears to be a journalistic quickie. But even so, and though the Israelis aren't going to admit it, they are becoming more nervous and insecure about their future. And among other reasons that's why they choose the heretofore unelectable Ariel Sharon as their Prime Minister.

CREEPING TEMPLE AND CREEPING EMBASSY
(July 29, 2001)
In 1967, as the Israeli army took control of all of Jerusalem, the Israeli Flag flew on what the Jews call "the Temple Mount" for the first time since Christ and Mohamed walked the area. Sensing what this could lead to General Moshe Dayan quickly ordered the flag lowered, turned the area that the Muslims call "the Noble Sanctuary", al Haram al Sharif, back over to the Islamic authorities, and though Israel claims sovereignty it's flag has never flown again over the area of the Temple Mount

THE BLEAK FUTURE TODAY IN THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM
(July 29, 2001)
It was "radical" groups that emplanted themselves in the city of Hebron a long time ago, back in fact when the Labor party was still supreme in Israeli affairs. And just look today at that city where the common forefather of both the Jews and the Arabs is buried.

POTENTIAL EXPLOSION IN JERUSALEM SUNDAY
(July 28, 2001)
Arab leaders have warned that a messianic Jewish organisation's plan to make the first move towards rebuilding the Biblical Temple in Jerusalem is a "dangerous step" that could lead to uncontrollable consequences.

JEWS PREPARE FOR JERUSALEM THIRD TEMPLE- AND SO FINALLY DO THE ARABS
(July 28, 2001)
After today's previous MER article was published -- "God War Emerging In Holy Land" -- this Agence France-Presse article has just come over the wires. Characteristically the representatives of the Hashemite Kingdom -- the regime that has been most complicitous in secretly collaborating with the Israelis for decades to control the Palestinians sandwiched between them -- are publicly posturing in one way while actually acting in another.

RELIGIOUS WAR EMERGING IN THE HOLY LAND
(July 28, 2001)
In the years since the turn of the millenium the Arab-Israeli conflict is being transformed into an even more dangerous and potentially cataclysmic Muslim-Jewish war. Ariel Sharon's "visit" to the Temple Mount last year, accompanied by a huge military force, helped sparked Intifada II -- make no mistake about that.

WAR CRIMES TRIALS FOR SHARON ET. AL.?
(July 27, 2001)
In the end the Israelis are likely to find a way to deal with this new situation. They have great resources at their disposal when it comes to the media, intelligence information, lobbying capabilities, help from key governments in the US, UK, and Germany. They have a long history of twisting things to their advantage one way or another. And those opposed to them have a long reputation for much the opposite in fact.

TWISTING ARAFAT UNTIL HE IS DEAD OR GONE
(July 27, 2001)
The Israelis probably prefer Arafat dead at this point; but not at their own hand, at least not directly. Indeed, many of those who used the "Oslo Peace Process" to end Intifada I probably thought Arafat would have either been assassinated or died by now, leaving behind a "peace process" legacy as did Anwar Sadat when he was gunned down by his own soldiers just a few years after reluctantly signing on-the-dotted-line at Camp David 1.

"WARNING! ELECTRIC FENCE" - "WARNING! ISRAELI ARMY"
(July 26, 2001)
NEWSFLASH Thursday Evening 9pm ET: An Israeli teenager has been killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank and three bombs have gone off in the West Bank near Israeli vehicles. The attacks came hours after Palestinians buried a militant killed in an Israeli missile attack. Israeli tanks also shelled Palestinian police posts in a village north of Ramallah and a checkpoint run by Force 17, an elite unit of the police, south of the town, not far from the site of the shooting, said Palestinian security sources.

DEATH, REPRESSION, AND DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE. SHARON'S POLICY TO PROVOKE VIOLENCE IS WORKING
(July 26, 2001)
Everywhere the settlements continue to expand even as the Israelis constantly twist their words as well as the facts. The Israelis know very well what they are doing and what they want -- they are taking the land and the resources from the indigenous people and then isolating the people in what amount to ghettos and concentration camps calling them "autonomous" areas.

ISRAELI RIGHT STRIKES WHILE ISRAELI LEFT WRITES
(July 25, 2001)
The Israeli army is partially mobilized and positioned for a quick and multi-directional assault on the forces of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority, ironically armed by the Israelis themselves in years past. Draft mobilization offices have been opened by the Israelis in key U.S. and European cities. The Israelis propaganda machine has been beefed up and already beginning to operate on all cylinders.

PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR DRAWS CLOSER
(July 25, 2001)
"Israel says Arafat is not doing enough to bolster a US-brokered truce, demanding he arrest activists and stop attacks against armed Jewish settlers and soldiers in occupied areas of the West Bank and Gaza. But Arafat has said he is not in control of security in occupied areas. Palestinians blame Israel for the on-going violence"

WHAT'S UP FOR ARAFAT?
(July 25, 2001)
Ariel Sharon has always been scamming everyone. His long career in the military is full of deception and treachery in public while committing blood-curdling massacres in private. In the most notorious case of all, the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps of 1982 ...

OFFICIAL PLO VERSION OF CAMP DAVID
(July 25, 2001)
The latest dueling, in advance of the "big bang" which Arafat himself now says is definitely coming -- and whose real purpose by the Israeli right-wing is to end the "Oslo Peace Process" once and for all -- is a battle for public opinion conducted through a convoluted debate over who offered what to whom and who is responsible for the failing of the "peace process".

REGIONAL WAR POSSIBILITIES
(July 24, 2001)
The following two articles are from publications associated with Janes Intelligence Weekly in the U.K. But what's looked at here are the short-term implications and the correct assessment that the very weak and in most cases U.S.-controlled Arab "client regimes" in the region will find one way or another to avoid any military clashes with the vastly superior Israelis.

PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR LOOMS
(July 24, 2001)
Those who have read MER for some time know that we have long indicated that one of the Israeli goals was to foment a Palestinian civil war. Some of the Israelis, dubbed the "peace camp", preferred to twist Arafat into totally succumbing and signing some kind of "end of conflict" agreement along with creation of a rump and everywhere-controlled Palestinian State.

NEW BATTLE FOR HISTORY
(July 24, 2001)
The latest dueling, in advance of the "big bang" -- whose real purpose by the Israeli right-wing is to end the "Oslo Peace Process" once and for all -- is a battle for public opinion conducted through a convoluted debate over who offered what to whom and who is responsible for the failing of the "peace process".

ARMIES AND POLITICIANS POSITIONING THEMSELVES FOR "BIG BANG" AND THEREAFTER
(July 23, 2001)
Ehud Barak is in the U.S. explaining why his former "peace partner" Arafat is really a big thug who can't possibly be believed or trusted, and how he Barak proved it, kind of sacrificing himself he continually implies.

THE BIG LIES
(July 21, 2001)
Goebbels himself could not have done a better job. For those who don't recognize the name, check back in the not too distant history books under the heading Nazi Information Ministry.

ISRAEL SET TO ATTACK ACCORDING TO CIA
(July 20, 2001)
At first we had the adjective "cowardly" as a preface to "Arabs" in the headline. Let's be clear what we mean here. We're not talking about the Arab peoples, nor about those who do the brave struggling...and the real suffering...and the bleeding and the dying.

WAR DRUMS IN THE HOLY LAND
(July 20, 2001)
No way to know for sure, but if we had to predict at this moment the "Big Bang" (see previous "War Drums" articles for context) will be heard not this week but next after the Maccabiah games have ended and the G8 leaders survive Genoa.

AMERICANS GET ANOTHER WARNING
(July 19, 2001)
With the unprecedented "Red Zone" in Genoa; with key Washington buildings surrounded by concrete and high-tech survelliance; and with Americans warned again by their government to "beware" following on last month's Threatcon Delta alert; the "terrorists" have already accomplished a small part of their goal.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AND ARAB LEAGUE OFFER LITTLE BUT WORDS AND A FEW BUCKS
(July 19, 2001)
It's that little old problem rearing it's ugly head again -- calls that come much too late and even then call for much too little. Worse yet the calls come in very self-serving ways from persons and institutions whose past records make them not very credible, and certainly not very potent.

FINALLY BURYING OSLO
(July 18, 2001)
The "Oslo Peace Process" -- which would have been more aptly named the "Rabin" or the "Clinton" -- has been brain-dead for some time now; kept alive only by extraordinary life-support efforts by its parent surrogates.

INDIA-PAKISTAN SUMMIT COLLAPSES, INDIA IMMEDIATELY ANNOUNCES MAJOR MILITARY ESCALATION WITH ISRAEL
(July 18, 2001)
With both Turkey and India the Israelis are developing formidable military, financial, and intelligence alliances surrounding the Arab and Muslim worlds. These relationships tremendously strengthen the Jewish State financially, militarily, and strategically at a very critical time.

TINDERBOX AWAITS MATCH
(July 17, 2001)
"This could result in a bloodbath and thereby set the entire region aflame. It's not out of the question that demonstrations could topple unpopular regimes in Jordan, Egypt or Saudi Arabia... The tinderbox is awaiting a match."

ARAFAT FADING
(July 17, 2001)
It's beginning to appear that it's just a matter of time now for Arafat to finally be gone. As far as the Israelis and Americans are concerned, it no longer really matters like it use to.

ISRAEL PUSHES PALESTINIANS TOWARD CIVIL WAR
(July 17, 2001)
"No power in the world can stop the resistance operations that come as a reaction to the Israeli aggression ... we have nothing more to lose."

ISRAELIS PUSHING HARD TO PROVOKE MORE PALESTINIAN ATTACKS
(July 16, 2001)
A few years ago when the Americans essentially forced Yasser Arafat to sign one of those deals, this one about Hebron, that was supposed to push the "peace process" forward, it was foreseeable that sooner rather than later Hebron would once again erupt.

MUBARAK REGIME EARNS ITS PAY ONCE AGAIN
(July 15, 2001)
Today the Egyptians hosted Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat in Cairo. It's a replay of this kind of thing they've been doing for quite some years now. The Egyptians are at it again, fronting for the Americans as they have ever since the original Camp David extravaganza in 1978.

WAR DRUMS FROM ISRAEL
(July 15, 2001)
Longtime top adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Osama el-Baz, has issued a not-so-veiled warning to the Israelis not to attack Syria. The head of Egyptian military intelligence rushed to Israel a few days ago supposedly to warn the Israelis not to dethrone Yasser Arafat.

RACE TO NUCLEAR WAR
(July 14, 2001)
While the Israelis and the Arabs confront each other in a conflict that may now last for a very long time and even lead to a Middle East holocaust in the future; and while the other "peace process" in Northern Ireland also collapses due to its similar duplicitous nature; it is in the subcontinent that the race toward a possible nuclear conflagration is furthest advanced at this moment in history.

MORE U.S. DUPLICLITY - COLIN POWELL NOW IN CHARGE
(July 13, 2001)
It was another top General turned State Department Secretary who gave Ariel Sharon the behind-the-scenes "green light" back in 1982 - General Alexander Haig.

PREPARING FOR THE WAR OF HIS CHOOSING
(July 13, 2001)
What we feared has come true: Two ethno-national groups, living in each other's backyards, are going through a proces of regression to superstitious tribalism. The sounds of the drums are heard throughout the land calling both tribes to gather around the campfire, dress in the colors of war and head out to battle to eliminate the very last member of the other side.

INVASION WATCH?
(July 13, 2001)
What are we to call this situation? "War Watch"...no, the sides are far too uneven, it's not really going to be a war...not unless one or more of the Arab regimes should find itself cornered or facing revolution.

WEST WING PARTIALLY EVACUATED
(July 12, 2001)
A few barks from the sniffers dogs and even after all the security checks required to get into the White House grounds the Secret Service pulled the alarm and quickly began the evacuation procedure.

ISRAELIS GENERALS' PLAN TO "SMASH" PALESTINIANS
(July 12, 2001)
Israeli generals have updated plans for an all-out assault to smash the Palestinian authority, force out leader Yasser Arafat and kill or detain its army, according to a report published Thursday in London.

JANES "FOREIGN REPORTS" DETAILS ISRAELI INVASION PLAN
(July 12, 2001)
The report that a force of some 30,000 Israeli troops is preparing to take on Arafat's "Authority" and bring it to an end was just published in one of the most reputable international publications, one published by the Janes Intelligence network in the U.K. and available only to members who pay a sizeable yearly subscription fee.

ISRAELIS PREPARE WAY TO TAKE OUT ARAFAT REGIME AND TO TAKE ON IRAN'S NEW WEAPON SYSTEMS
(July 11, 2001)
Whatever the truth of Israel's latest allegations against both the Arafat Authority and Iran, there should be little doubt what the Israelis are really up to at this point, with Shimon Peres leading the charge.

BULLDOZERS PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE "BIG BANG"
(July 11, 2001)
It's all part of the same game. The Israelis think they have the Palestinians trapped. They publicly debate how to put them in their place with bulldozers, expulsions, invasion, awaiting the "big bang".

ISRAELIS UNDER SIEGE WITH ARAFAT FACING HIS OWN
(July 10, 2001)
Nearly half of the Israeli Jewish population got a stern warning yesterday - don't drink the water. Today Israel's lifeline, it's international airport between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, is under virtual siege with huge traffic jams as all vehicles undergo the kind of rigorous fender-to-fender inspection previously reserved for just "Arab" cars with special blue plates.

ALGERIA READY TO EXPLODE
(July 10, 2001)
While the legacy of British colonialism still lingers in Palestine and Kashmir, still threatening cataclysmic conflict in both regions, in Algeria it is the legacy of French colonialism, which also of course still has loud echoes in Lebanon and Syria.

WAR IS IN THE AIR - Part 2
(July 10, 2001)
The Egyptians are arming with missiles to deter Israeli strikes against Egyptian cities or strategic targets such as the Aswan dam. These may be conceived as deterrent weapons; but they also could be used in other situations.

WAR IS IN THE AIR - Part 1
(July 9, 2001)
"The stage, therefore, has been set for the outbreak of the next wear: wall-to-wall political approval for a military solution to the current crisis, the appropriate international preparations during the period of restraint."

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE "RIGHT OF RETURN" BUT WERE TOO AFRAID TO ASK
(July 7, 2001)
"Who will compensate me and my family for all the suffering we went through? Financial compensation cannot replace the right of return....The main thing is to go back to where I belong."

THE STAGE IS NOW SET
(July 7, 2001)
This is the way such things are done these days. Lots of testing of the waters. Lots of preparing the way. Lots of trial balloons. If (probably no longer when) the Israelis "remove" Arafat one way or another -- just as it was they who put him where he is in the first place -- it will no longer come as such a great shock.

FENCING THE PALESTINIANS IN - "UNILATERAL SEPARATION"
(July 6, 2001)
Having to a considerable extent succeeding in colonizing the "occupied territories", especially the most important areas around Jerusalem and the most cultivatable areas along with the crucial water resources, the Israelis are now ready for more fences and barricades.

STOPPING SHARON - PROBABLY TOO LATE
(July 6, 2001)
He's not likely to be stopped now. He's prepared most of his life for this moment in history. And as Israeli Prime Minister for just the past few months he's already visited the American President twice, Downing Street, and now both Germany and France, applauded in public more for his "restraint" as the "new Sharon" rather than for his war criminal past and the neo-apartheid oppression machine he now bears full responsibility for.

ISRAEL SHAHAK DIES AS CALAMITY HE FORESAW APPROACHES
(July 5, 2001)
Just what "cease-fire" is Sarid talking about? And if he really wants a serious outside force, why is he not appealing to the U.N. under Chapter 7 and why are not the Arabs included?

ISRAELIS TO NOW KILL MORE PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS
(July 4, 2001)
Ariel Sharon and his government are preparing the way to kill more Palestinian street and faction leaders using various forms of high-tech assassination. They are also preparing world public opinion not only for bringing the Arafat "Authority" to an end but for killing and expelling as many Palestinians as circumstances will allow.

THE REAL ARAFAT
(July 3, 2001)
Of course Sharon's comment yesterday is ridiculous. Problem is the strategy behind it is not. "You must comply, resistance is futile" is indeed the loud message from Sharon to Arafat; and Sharon does intend to prove his words in the weeks and months ahead, make no mistake about that.

THE REAL SHARON, MASKED AND PREPARING FOR ANOTHER "GREEN LIGHT"
(July 2, 2001)
Ariel Sharon has Yasser Arafat cornered now -- right where he wants him. Sharon has in essence forced Arafat to publicly call off the Intifada -- or else Sharon made it rather clear, most of all to his American allies, that he would call off Arafat's regime whatever the consequences.

5 PALESTINIANS KILLED SUNDAY
(July 1, 2001)
Five Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces, three in a pinpoint helicopter attack and two in a clash with soldiers. The helicopter fired missiles at a car in which the three men were travelling near Qabatiye in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security officials said.

SYRIA STRUCK FOR SECOND TIME SINCE SHARON BECAME PM
(July 1, 2001)
The Arabs have an amazing tolerance for being struck. Partly it is because of their weakness of course; coupled with their long history of subjugation and occupation. But those who know Arab society also are aware that after taking it and taking it there sometimes comes a moment of powerful emotional uproar screaming for revenge.

SHARON PLAYS THE PALESTINIANS OFF AGAINST EACH OTHER
(July 1, 2001)
While Ariel Sharon uses the greatest pressure of all so far in order to bow the Arafat regime into submission -- the possibility of crushing Arafat's "Authority" through brut military force -- at the same time he holds out the carrot.




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