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MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 4/25: In the old days of Intifada I Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres were busy pursuing their "Gaza First" strategy. It was never presented, but always designed, as a kind of trap for the Palestinians; and it was continually rejected by the Palestinian negotiating team that went to Madrid and then Washington, headed by Dr. Haider Abdul-Shafi.
But in 1993, after years of persistent efforts, the Israelis won again, striking a deal in Oslo that expanded "Gaza First:" to "Gaza and Jericho First," and taking the Palestinians for another bad ride that made possible the creation of today's Palestinian "Authority," the extensive Apartheid infrasture which divides and controls the Palestinians more than ever, and the understandably resultant Intifada II. Even the old Palestinian negotiating team got divided and twisted by all this. Haider Abdul-Shafi saw what was happening and refused to even go to the White House ceremony with Arafat and Rabin on 13 September 1993. Hanan Ashrawi, Saeb Erakat, along with many others, jumped in for the ride, fearing losing their VIP priviledges and notoriety.
Whatever, this is the sordid origins of the Jericho Casino, now again in the news, and maybe soon again in the money.
For now the Israelis are attempting to further divide the Palestinians from themselves, and of course to extinquish the new Intifada, by tempting those in the "Authority" with the renewed personal benefits that could come to them if the Jericho casino were "reopened" (it has already been quickly repaired at considerable cost) and the Jericho area "quiet and without violence". Call it "Casino First" if you will. And it is another bad ride with devilish temptations for a few of the old Palestinian VIPs and their Israeli handlers and "partners".
But the situation is extraordinarily complicated. Various fat-cat Palestinian and Israeli businessmen, long-time parasites feeding off the misnomered "Peace Process", are entertwined together and make considerable money for themselves, families, and friends, while the great majority of the Palestinian population becomes further imprisoned and further impoverished. As for Sharon, he's playing everyone to his advantage; and quite remarkably getting away with much of it fairly easily. And as for the income generated by the Casino actually helping the Palestinian struggle -- not very likely as much as the Arafat crowd wants to present things that way for transparent reasons. After all, supposed the Arab states have pledged huge amounts to help the struggling Palestinians; and Arafat and cronies have squirrled away and invested abroad very large amounts themselves.
Well...as we just said...it's extraordinarily complicated at this point. It was just a few years ago that Arafat secretly sent one of his trusted advisers, Dr. Sami Musallem, to visit the Indian casinos in the U.S. southwest. It's all part of the Apartheid trap which Arafat and his "Authority", knowingly or not, have helped the Israelis bring about for the increasingly destitute, demoralized, divided, and controlled Palestinian masses.
By Amos Harel, Gideon Alon and Baruch Kra Ha'aretz
[Ha'aretz - 25 April 2001] The Oasis casino in Jericho, which was damaged early in the Intifada by Israeli guns, has been refurbished and is ready to accommodate gamblers, and the Palestinians, for whom the casino is an important source of income, want to reopen it to Israelis, but the authorities here are still not ready to let Israelis return to Palestinian Authority areas.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer both said yesterday they were not going to allow Israelis back to the casino on the southern edge of Jericho. The defense minister's bureau said "a return to normal life will only be possible when the violence is over."
Yesterday morning, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres confirmed the Palestinians have been asking for "a return to normalcy" in the Jericho area, where there has been a steep decline in the number of violent incidents in recent months. The calm in the city enabled the casino owners, headed by Austrian businessman Martin Schlaff, to invest in repairs to the complex, which before the Intifada hosted thousands of Israelis who spent millions of dollars gambling there.
The casino's ownership also includes some key members of the PA, who have a personal interest, as well as a national economic one, to see the complex reopened to Israelis. Schlaff played a key role in back channel contacts between Sharon and members of the PA government soon after the Israeli elections.
While Peres said in a radio interview that the government's policy is to enable a return to normalcy, "without conditions," he dodged questions about whether Israelis should be allowed back into PA-controlled areas, including the casino and Jericho proper, where Israelis once flocked for bargains.
Security sources told Ha'aretz that the Shin Bet is unequivocally against allowing Israelis back into the PA controlled areas, due to the high risk involved. But without Israeli gamblers, the casino will have a hard time turning a profit.
Politicians from the right and some from the left yesterday slammed the idea of allowing Israelis back into the casino. Former defense minister MK Moshe Arens of the Likud said that "it's amazing to discover that Israel is ready to consider allowing Israelis into the Jericho casino, when Israelis are being lynched in Ramallah. Israelis should be kept out of Jericho, lest they contribute to the Palestinian Authority's coffers."
MK Ophir Pines Paz of Labor echoed Arens, saying that "as long as Israeli settlements are under attack and the attacks against Israel proper haven't ceased, Israelis should be kept out of the casino."
MK Zvi Hendel of the National Unity Party said that he was "pleased to hear that in exchange for Israel allowing Arafat to open the casino, he's 'ready' for Jews not to be killed in the area.
[The Palestine Monitor - April 25, 2001]: For the past six months the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been under siege, 450 Palestinians have been killed, 15,000 more have been injured and the economy gradually decimated.
Months ago voices were warning of the effects the closures would have on the economy. Today those effects are all too visible.
In a report released today on the "Impact of Israeli Measures on the Economic Conditions of Palestinian Households" the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics shows the true nature of the disaster afflicting Palestinian households.
The results indicate the extent to which incomes have dropped in the WBGS - with the total monthly income decreasing on average from 2,300 NIS monthly (prior to the intifada) to the current 1,200 NIS.
The results also show that 68.3% of households in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are living below the poverty line (the poverty line being 1,608 NIS for a household made up of husband, wife and three children), furthermore 60.7% are below the serious poverty line (less than 1,316 NIS with the same criteria).
The growing poverty has widespread effects on the lives of Palestinians, with the results indicating that 64% of the households surveyed faced obstacles paying medical expenses. In addition to this, the closure of the Territories has resulted in 52.3% of the respondents unable to reach medical services due to the travel restrictions.
This is not an accidental consequence of the collective punishment of the Palestinian people; it is a concerted effort to destroy the economy, to force the Palestinians into such a dire situation that they capitulate and accept an agreement that is not just or durable. It is punishing them for daring to resist the continuing illegal Israeli occupation of their lands.
[Arutz 7 - April 25] The initiative to allow the Palestinian Authority to re-open its casino in Jericho seems to have had the ground removed from under its feet. Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reports that although Prime Minister Sharon was initially in favor of allowing the re-opening, GSS head Avi Dichter and Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer prevailed upon him to backtrack. Thus, Sharon announced last night that although he would not prevent the PA from opening its casino in the territory it controls, he would not allow Israeli citizens - the casino's main source of income - to visit Jericho until the Arab violence is stopped.
"It is now known that a large part of the casino's profits were used to finance the warfare against Israel," Huberman reported today. "The money was funneled via Muhammad Rashid - the PA treasurer, who is involved (and receives royalties from) every financial transaction that goes on there - to Force 17, Jibril Rajoub, and Muhammad Dahlan. The same arrangement is expected to continue if the casino is re-opened. In fact, the Palestinians have been feeling a bit desperate for money to replenish their dwindling supply of weapons and ammunition, and this is why they are so anxious to re-start the casino..."
Huberman also noted the suspicious nature of the negotiations regarding the
casino: "I will say this very carefully, but the people involved in the
talks leave little room for doubt: The casino's attorney is Dov Weisglass,
who represented Sharon himself in his suit against Time
Magazine. Weisglass went with Omri Sharon, before the elections, to meet
with Rashid in Austria, and with Martin Schlaff, representing the Austrian
owners of the casino... And, of course, Yossi Ginosar, who also went with
Omri Sharon and who is also financially involved in the casino..."
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| Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/4/173.htm |