| Mid-East Realities | www.middleeast.org |
Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has come to Washington once again. His visits have become customary to in a sense collect his allowance and meet with his new American keepers, which are in fact really the old Bush crowd he is very familiar with.
After all, it was Mubarak more than any other Arab leader whom the Americans enlisted a decade ago now to blunt any Arab League opposition to the American force sent to the Gulf to retake Kuwait for the West and to keep the region under U.S./Israeli domination. And it was to Mubarak again whom the Americans and Israelis turned to garner Arab support for their post-Gulf War "Peace Process"; now in shambles. Mubarak of Egypt, Abdullah of Jordan, and the al-Sauds in Arabia, are in fact the cornerstones of long-standing U.S. designs to keep the region "stable" -- i.e., under American control. And that's why under these regimes both Egypt and Jordan refuse to end their personally beneficial "peace treaties" with Israel, no matter what the provocation and justification; and why Saudi Arabia continues to allow Prince Bandar to be its Washington Ambassador, he having having worked so closely behind-the-scenes with the Israeli lobby for some two decades now making sure the Saudi regime is always American-protected at any cost.
There's a little pressure on Mubarak now from both sides. His own people, never pleased with having been essentially politically prostituted at the original Camp David back in 1978, want to see Egypt's relations with Israel ended and a far more dignified and independent Egyptian foreign policy. Those who control the purse-strings -- i.e. U.S. and international organization purse-strings -- are themselves being pressured to warn Mubarak that if he were to succumb to such populist desires the yearly billons he counts on, plus military and CIA covert "assistance", could easily dry up.
Meanwhile, the Arab regimes, Mubarak at the top of the list, have left the Palestinians both politically and militarily quite naked adn defensely, refusing to risk anything themselves to stop the Israeli onslaught. It's all quite despicable of course; and hopefully there will be a historic price eventually to be paid in such Arab capitals as Cairo, Amman, and Riyadh.
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"The Palestinian Authority held a major military exercise on Saturday against an expected invasion by Israel of the West Bank and Gaza Strip." |
[MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE- Gaza - Monday, April 2, 2001]: Israel has assassinated a leading Islamic militant as part of what Palestinians term a new policy by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to end the more than six-month-old mini-war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The militant assassinated on Monday was identified as Mohammed Abdul Al. Palestinian sources said an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles toward his car in Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Abdul Al was identified as a fugitive and a leading activist in the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad organization. The group has been held responsible for several bombings in Israel over the past month in operations coordinated with the Palestinian Authority. He was believed responsible for attacks on Israeli civilians.
Earlier, an Israeli soldier, Sgt. Yaakov Krenchel, was killed in a Palestinian shooting attack near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The Palestinian Authority held a major military exercise on Saturday against an expected invasion by Israel of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians sources said the exercise was held both in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The exercise included defense of major roads as well as a response by commandos to an Israeli invasion. On Friday, the ruling Fatah movement also staged military maneuvers.
PA officials said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has launched what they term a 100-day plan to end the current mini-war with Israel. They said this would include the capture of strategic locations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as the assassination of key Palestinian figures.
Over the weekend, Israeli and Palestinians clashed in some of the heaviest fighting in the more than six-month-old mini-war. At least seven Palestinians were killed.
On late Saturday, Palestinians again fired toward the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. Other clashes were reported in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Jericho Nablus and in several areas of the Gaza Strip. This as PA Chairman Yasser Arafat convened his Cabinet and the PLO leadership to discuss the Israeli invasion plans.
Israel has rejected a PA offer to renew negotiations based on a pledge by Sharon to withdraw from further territory in the West Bank. Sharon aides said the Israeli prime minister insists on the end of the mini-war before negotiations are resumed.
[MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE - Cairo - Monday, April 2, 2001]: CAIRO - Egypt has stressed the need for U.S. military aid on the eve of President Hosni Mubarak's talks with the Bush administration.
Egyptian officials and the state-owned Egyptian media have highlighted the benefits of U.S. aid for the economy and military in Egypt. The review comes amid criticism by opposition parliamentarians and other elements of Mubarak's courting of Washington and the Bush administration.
On Monday, Mubarak meets President George Bush in the White House. He will later meet Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
In his talks, Mubarak is expected to urge the administration to separate proposed strategic relations between Cairo and Washington from political disputes between the two countries on such issues as the Arab-Israeli peace process, Iraq and Egypt's record on human rights.
The meetings come in wake of Arab criticism of a U.S. veto in the United Nations Security Council of a draft resolution that called for the deployment of international peacekeepers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But quietly those close to Mubarak have urged that Egypt play down the U.S. veto in favor of improving the relationship between Cairo and Washington.
Ibrahim Nafie, editor of the state-owned Al Ahram and who serves to articulate Mubarak's policies, said the United States values Egypt and its military. "The United States has furnished more than $27 billion in military aid towards equipping and training the Egyptian armed forces, which, in conjunction with joint maneuvers and other programs, have elevated our deterrent capacities to unprecedented levels," Nafie wrote.
"That the United States has persisted in its military assistance programs to
Egypt in the face of vehement Israeli objections confirms American faith in
Egypt's pivotal role in safeguarding stability in the Middle East."
| Mid-East Realities | www.middleeast.org |
| Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/4/129.htm |