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"The summit is heading toward total chaos"

ARABS CAN'T EVEN HOLD REAL SUMMIT WITHOUT
TRIPPING ALL OVER THEMSELVES

"The summit is heading toward total chaos"

MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 3/27/2002: Today's "Arab Leaders" always seem to manage to bumble themselves from one disaster to another. Then the controlled media and commentators they either own or manipulate in one way or another mostly cover up for them, including such subsidized and sponsored English-language publications as "Middle East International" in the UK and "Washington Report on Middle East Affairs" in the U.S. And then the "client organizations" -- including Arab-American Institute (AAI) and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) -- front and cover-up for them further with the American media in Washington.

It's all so pathetic to watch; and out-of-sight, under the rock so-to-speak, the decay and muck is even more slimy and desperate to behold!

The very idea that this group of "Arab leaders" could lead their people to anything successful, not to mention take on the Israelis and manuever around the Americans, is even more ludicrous today than yesterday.

ARAB SUMMIT IN DISARRAY AS PALESTINIANS WALK OUT

By Ashraf Fouad

BEIRUT (Reuters - 27 March 10:44 AM ET) - Saudi Arabia asked Arab leaders to back its Middle East peace plan Wednesday, but a Palestinian walkout in protest of Lebanon's failure to air Yasser Arafat's summit speech plunged the meeting into disarray.

Farouq al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation rganization's political department, told Qatar's al-Jazeera television the Palestinian delegation had quit because Lebanese President Emile Lahoud had blocked the broadcast of Arafat's speech from his West Bank office.

"This is an Arab summit, not a Lebanon summit," Kaddoumi added. "The summit is for all the Arabs and for the (Palestinian) Intifada and he (Lahoud) has no right not to listen to the Palestinian speech."

Delegates said the United Arab Emirates had downgraded its delegation in solidarity with the Palestinian walkout.

Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh told a news conference there had been a "misunderstanding" over Arafat's speech, saying it could be aired to the summit in the afternoon.

But Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath told Reuters Lahoud had shown contempt for the whole summit.

"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with all his mean and impertinent ways, prevented President Arafat from attending the summit physically," Shaath said. "The head of the summit prevented his image and voice from being present."

The row over the Palestinian leader's address, eventually broadcast on al-Jazeera, overshadowed the impact of the land-for-peace proposal made by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

The prince asked the summit to back his plan for "normal ties" with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land and creation of a Palestinian state.

But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad countered with a call for Arab states to back the Palestinian uprising by severing any ties with Israel -- a dig at Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state.

Prince Abdullah, who praised the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, urged the summit to submit a "clear and unanimous" peace initiative to the U.N. Security Council.

It should be based on "normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Sharif (East Jerusalem) as its capital and the return of (Palestinian) refugees."

The Saudi leader appealed to the world to support "this noble humanitarian proposal which seeks to remove the danger of destructive wars and the establishment of peace for all the inhabitants of the region, without exception."

Arafat immediately welcomed the Saudi plan.

"The Palestinian leadership confirms that it welcomes the enlightened, brave initiative launched by ... Crown Prince Abdullah," he said in his speech. "This initiative, God willing, will turn into an Arab initiative at this summit for the peace of the brave between us and the Israeli and Jewish people."

Prince Abdullah, detailing a plan he floated last month, asked the summit in Beirut to let him address the Israeli people with a message that "the use of violence for more than 50 years has only resulted in more violence and destruction and that they are as far from security and peace as they have ever been.

"I would further say to the Israeli people that, if their government abandons the policy of force and oppression and embraces true peace, we will not hesitate to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in security with the people of the region," Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler declared.

Syrian President Assad, while acknowledging the Saudi plan enshrined long-held Arab positions, stressed that Israel must commit itself to returning all occupied Arab lands.

"For us, if there are no clear guarantees to recover the land completely to (the borders of) 1967...let's not waste our time, there won't be any negotiation," Assad said, demanding that Israel make such a pledge in an official, public document.

He then asked Arab countries to take a stand in support of the Palestinian uprising. "The issue of cutting ties is one of sovereignty and we understand that every country has its own special circumstances. We ask countries that have relations with Israel to tell us when these ties can be cut," he said.

"Now is the time for action to save the Palestinian people from the massacres, from the new Holocaust, that they are being subjected to," the Syrian leader declared. Several Arab leaders earlier praised the much-anticipated Saudi land-for-peace proposal, but poor attendance at the summit that opened Wednesday threatened to weaken their message.

Sharon stopped Arafat from going to Beirut from his West Bank headquarters. He stayed away after Sharon said he might block his return if attacks on Israel continued.

It was not clear if Assad's position had any bearing on the last-minute decision of key U.S. allies King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to stay away.

Military helicopters prowled rainy skies as the summit got under way at a luxury seafront hotel in Beirut in the absence of 12 heads of state from the Arab League's 22 members.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the summit to unite behind the prince's plan and told them to come to terms "once and for all" with Israel's right to exist in peace and security.

Delegates, who held late-night consultations on the eve of the summit, said Arab leaders were set to endorse the Saudi peace plan, but had found no way to bridge an Iraq-Kuwait dispute that has festered since the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.

ARAB SUMMIT RECONVENES AFTER PALESTINIANS WALK OUT

By Ashraf Fouad

BEIRUT (Reuters - 27 March - 12:33 PM ET) - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, hosting an Arab summit that is supposed to showcase a Saudi plan for Middle East peace, sought to rescue it from collapse Wednesday after a Palestinian walkout.

The Palestinians quit the morning session in fury over what they said was Lahoud's refusal to let their leader Yasser Arafat address the summit by satellite from his West Bank base.

Lahoud reconvened the meeting after a lengthy delay, saying there had been a "misunderstanding" over Arafat's speech. "I say we are all determined that his speech reach the summit and through it the world," he said. "We agreed with the Palestinians that it should be recorded and then broadcast to the summit because direct transmission would have given Israel the chance to interfere with the speech."

But Palestinian delegates stayed out of the conference hall and one of them said they were waiting for Arafat, prevented by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from attending the summit, to tell them whether they should resume their seats or leave.

The head of the United Arab Emirates delegation earlier left Beirut in solidarity with the Palestinian walkout.

"The summit is heading toward total chaos," UAE Information Minister Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan told Reuters.

"This is an Arab summit, not a Lebanon summit," Farouq al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political department, thundered, adding that Lahoud had no right to block Arafat's speech to the Arab leaders.

The row over the Palestinian leader's address, eventually broadcast on al-Jazeera, threatened to diminish the impact of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's land-for-peace proposal.

The prince asked the summit to back his plan for "normal ties" with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land and creation of a Palestinian state.

But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad countered with a call for Arab states to back the Palestinian uprising by severing any ties with Israel -- a dig at Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state.

Prince Abdullah, who praised the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, urged the summit to submit a "clear and unanimous" peace initiative to the U.N. Security Council.

It should be based on "normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Sharif (East Jerusalem) as its capital and the return of (Palestinian) refugees," Prince Abdullah said.

He skirted some of the Middle East's linguistic minefields, avoiding "normalization," anathema to Syria, and the phrase "right of return," a formula fiercely rejected by Israel.

Arafat immediately welcomed the Saudi plan.

"The Palestinian leadership confirms that it welcomes the enlightened, brave initiative launched by...Crown Prince Abdullah," he said in his speech. "This initiative, God willing, will turn into an Arab initiative at this summit for the peace of the brave between us and the Israeli and Jewish people."

At one point Prince Abdullah spoke directly to the Israeli people, telling them that "if their government abandons the policy of force and oppression and embraces true peace, we will not hesitate to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in security with the people of the region."

Syrian President Assad, while acknowledging the Saudi plan enshrined long-held Arab positions, stressed that Israel must commit itself publicly to returning all occupied Arab lands.

"Now is the time for action to save the Palestinian people from the massacres, from the new Holocaust, that they are being subjected to," Assad said. He asked Arab states that have relations with Israel to "tell us when these ties can be cut."

It was not clear if Assad's position had any bearing on the last-minute decision of key U.S. allies King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak not to attend the summit.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the summit to unite behind the Saudi plan and told them to come to terms "once and for all" with Israel's right to exist in peace and security.

Delegates, who held late-night consultations on the eve of the summit, said Arab leaders were set to endorse the Saudi peace plan, but had found no way to bridge an Iraq-Kuwait dispute that has festered since the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.

Iraq offered an olive branch to Kuwait at the summit after announcing that it had freed a Kuwaiti detainee.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told reporters Baghdad respected "the sovereignty of Kuwait and its national security" and pledged not to interfere in its internal affairs.

It was not clear if Sabri's words would satisfy Kuwait, which had insisted that a final summit communique include an Iraqi pledge not to repeat its 1990 invasion of the emirate.

President Bush and other U.S. officials played down Arafat's absence from the summit despite American pressure on Israel to let the Palestinian leader attend.

They preferred to focus on efforts by Bush's envoy Anthony Zinni seeking an Israeli-Palestinian truce to halt violence that has killed more than 1,500 people in the past 18 months.

"I am optimistic that progress is being made and I asked General Zinni to continue the work with both parties, regardless of whether or not they're headed to Beirut," Bush said.

Zinni has been trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to implement a cease-fire plan laid out by CIA Director George Tenet last year.



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March 2002


Magazine






Saudi Future Unstable; More Money to Secretly flow to Palestinians
(March 29, 2002)
What goes on in public and on CNN/Al-Jazeera is one thing. This is political theatre meant for all to see. But like the proverbial icberg the great bulk of what is going on is beneath the waves and hidden from regular view.

Arafat Surrounded - And A Letter from Bir Zeit University near Ramallah
(March 29, 2002)
"Reports are rampant, breaking news that there is a planned incursion, occupation, total destruction... who knows of Ramallah and so we have to act and act quickly."

Saudis plead, Bin Laden emals, Arafat sits, Jesse offers...US and Israel prepare
(March 28, 2002)
With the #2 summit Saudi suffering a stroke and hospitalized (how appropriately) at the American University in Beirut, the Arab League summit was even more of a circus and disaster than we had predicted.

The "Saudi Peace Plan"...of 20 Years Ago
(March 28, 2002)
In April 1981 Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia unveiled the "Saudi Plan" which then dominated the Arab League summit held in Fez, Morocco, in November.

Saudis Humiliated, Betrayed, and now "Invited"
(March 28, 2002)
Quite literally as Saudi Royal "Crown Prince" Abdullah was following his script in Beirut no matter what, the U.S. Government was announcing in Washington that he had "accepted" to visit the Bush Presidential Ranch in Texas at the end of next month.

"The summit is heading toward total chaos"
(March 27, 2002)
Today's "Arab Leaders" always seem to manage to bumble themselves from one disaster to another. Then the controlled media and commentators they either own or manipulate in one way or another mostly cover up for them, including such subsidized and sponsored English-language publications as "Middle East International" in the UK and "Washington Report on Middle East Affairs" in the U.S.

Arafat Unheard at Summit - Secret Israel Phone Calls to Cairo and Amman
(March 27, 2002)
How much is factual, how much is disinformation from Mossad, how much is twisted and spun....these are all legitimate questions needing consideration, especially these days. But there's no doubt Irish author Gordon Thomas has considerable connections in the murky world of intelligence and especially with the Israeli Mossad, and he's been on target with quite a few things in the past.

They Call This A Summit?
(March 26, 2002)
Readers of MER won't be nearly as surprised as most may be that journalists are already proclaiming the grand Arab summit in ruins and as the BBC correspondent concluded this evening, "they might as well go home now before it starts".

What a Mess the Arab World is in
(March 26, 2002)
Such a mess. "Arab Leaders" who are mostly inept and corrupt and miserably repressive. An Arab League that is impotent and crippled. Arab media that can't figure out whom to interview about what.

Huge Damascus Demo Screams About Sharon and Warns Arab Summiteers
(March 26, 2002)
History is repeating itself after 20 years, but everything is even worse today for the vast Arab world and its fast growing now over 200+ million.

"Grand Plan" For War On the Palestinians
(March 25, 2002)
As the impotent Arab League run by the corrupt and repressive Arab "client regimes" prepares to meet and do nothing real and serious as usual; the Israelis, with an American wink and much under-the-table help, are preparing even bigger assaults against the Palestinians.

Vital History - Origins of Israel's "Arab Problem"
(March 25, 2002)
In 1947, the then representative of the Zionist Organization in Washington, Nahum Goldman, urged David Ben-Gurion not to declare a "Jewish State" but rather to hold out for finding some way of accomodation with the Palestinians that could lead to a unified "bi-national state" ...

Draft Text of Arab Summit Resolution - More of the Same Sweet Nothings
(March 25, 2002)
Much too weak, fractured, and frightened to actually act in any serious and independent manner -- even in the face of such repeated Israeli and American provocations and humiliations -- the grand "Arab world", meeting in summit in Beirut later this week, is poised to essentially do nothing.

Europeans See Americans Far Better Than Americans See Themselves
(March 23, 2002)
Time magazine was wrong a few months ago, but understandably so under the circumstances and few really expect much more from the mass American media .

Cheney Admits US will attack Iraq 'for Israel's sake'
(March 22, 2002)
While the mostly co-opted and cowardly "Arab leaders" -- the Arab "client regimes" -- fly their lavish private jets into Beirut 20 years after the Israelis besieged the city, destroyed the country, and attempted at great cost to bring Lebanon under their and American domination ...

Threatening With Nukes Could Well Lead to Use of Nukes - Part 1
(March 22, 2002)
One dreadful day they will be used. That likelihood seems now to be growing, especially as irresponsible leaders in both the US and UK keep publicly threatening to do just that rather than insisting that such weapons should never ever be used ...

Marching toward an American Police State - Part II
(March 22, 2002)
The above title was used to headline an article published on Wednesday, the same day we now learn the federal government was raiding Muslim homes and organizations in the Washington DC area.

U.S. Shifting to Large once Secret Qatar Military Base for Regional Control
(March 21, 2002)
The Americans have apparently agreed to let the Saudis off the hook when it comes to Prince Sultan Airbase, the largest and most sophisticated in the region, as long as they are on the hook when it comes to controlling the Arab Summit and fronting politically with "the Saudi Plan".

A Plea to US and Europe: Don't Participate in Killing and Torture of our People
(March 21, 2002)
All of the American "client regimes" in the Middle East -- including the main ones in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan -- use censorship, intimidation, torture, and the omnipresent secret police, to control their societies and prevent popular expression against their policies and corruption.

NewsFlash: Some U.S. Forces Beginning to leave Saudi for Qatar
(March 20, 2002)
Just days after Vice-President Richard Cheney visited Saudi Arabia and other countries in the area there are reports coming from the region that U.S. military forces are beginning to move out of Prince Sultan Air Base, a facility the U.S. is said to have spent tens of billions of dollars to make the most modern command base in the region.

Marching toward an American Police State - "Washington Scene"
(March 20, 2002)
A FOX NEWS cameraman was accosted by Pentagon Police outside the building on Tuesday -- as he was shooting pictures of an arrest being carried out by Virginia State Police on a highway that runs alongside the Pentagon but outside Pentagon property!

Squeezing and Smothering Arafat To Death
(March 20, 2002)
The Israelis, and the Americans of course, have Yasser Arafat right where they want him now. He either does as he is told and paid or he's a goner...one way or another.

More Humiliation for the Arabs both in Palestine and at the upcoming Arab Summit
(March 19, 2002)
It's terribly humiliating of course, but the Israelis have now told Arafat, in public, that he can go to the Arab Summit in Beirut if he does as he's told and declares the fighting ended.

CIA ANTHRAX?!
(March 18, 2002)
We already know it was a CIA operation back in the late 1980s that resulted in American-created anthrax spors being sent to Iraq and paid for by the U.S. Congress. We've just learned that a secret CIA team has recently gone to Northern Iraq to secretly meet with the Kurds and help prepare the coming war there.

Angry Demonstrators Condemn both Israel and U.S. in Arab world
(March 17, 2002)
For a second straight day, thousands of Arabs took to the streets across the Middle East on Saturday to burn Israeli and American flags and express anger over the rising Palestinian death toll.

Greater CIA Regime Being Thrust on Palestinians
(March 17, 2002)
Now the Israelis ... are proposing to try to save the "Authority" of Yasser Arafat by putting CIA "monitors" in Palestinian cities, offices, and jails; and CIA listening amd "monitoring" devices throughout the Palestinian bantustans and "occupied territories".

Has The U.S. Lost Its Way?
(March 16, 2002)
We comprise slightly less than 5 per cent of the world's population; but we imbibe 27 per cent of the world's annual oil production, create and consume nearly 30 per cent of its Gross World Product and - get this - spend a full 40 per cent of all the world's defence expenditures.

Transfer? Expulsion? Jordan is Palestine? Approaching the End Game
(March 16, 2002)
If the Palestinians are unable to strike further in view of Israel's and the CIA's unprecedented war to crush them into submission Sharon will undoubtedly say his tactics are working.

Massive New Super Bomb Being Built To Kill Saddam and Threaten All
(March 15, 2002)
With its soldiers beginning to even look a bit like the Centurions in the Star Wars saga, the U.S. appears intent on enforcing the new "new world order" through brute force as well as technological marvels and overpowering firepower and information gathering capabilities.

DEALING WITH COLLABORATORS, AT LAST
(March 15, 2002)
Like so many words, this one "conspiracy" is overused and misused by many. That makes it all the more important to know whom to trust and rely on, whom to take seriously, whom to discount.

Manger Square has become a wild, blood-drenched place
(March 14, 2002)
After nearly 35 years of increasingly brutal military occupation since the 1967 war, Palestinian society itself has been tortured and disfigured. The Israelis have used informers and all kinds of means to bring the Palestinians to their knees ...

The U.N.'s latest cowardness, impotence, and duplicity
(March 13, 2002)
It should be a Saturday Night Live skit...the U.N. uttering (or is the correct word stuttering) the term "Palestinian State" after the U.S., Europe, Ariel Sharon and nearly everyone else has other than the crazy Israeli racist fundamentalists.

The Latest As Israel's Slaughter of the Palestinians Escalates Still Further
(March 12, 2002)
Israeli forces killed 31 Palestinians on Tuesday in their biggest offensive in the West Bank and Gaza since Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Middle East war.

Journalists Carefully Targeted by Israelis
(March 12, 2002)
Israeli forces fired for 10 to 15 minutes from tank-mounted machine guns on a hotel where journalists were photographing armor targeting the al-Amari refugee camp early Tuesday.

"Nazi Behavior" Charges Arafat As Israelis Crush Palestinians into Submission
(March 12, 2002)
Nothing like this has happened to the Palestinians since the 1967 War. And this time the cowardly "Arab leaders" are simply watching and pretending; while those who claim to be supportive of the Palestinians in the U.S. are, disorganized, inept, impotent, demoralized, and used up.

Two Poems
(March 11, 2002)
These two unpublished poems were written by a 25 year old Israeliwoman at the time of the first Intifada.

Black Friday and Saturday in the once Holy Land
(March 10, 2002)
The war in 1973 was intense and almost lead to a nuclear confrontation -- remember the infamous "Kissinger nuclear alert"? But for most Palestinians alive today there hasn't been such a bloody day in their lives as on Friday at least 44 Palestinians were killed, hundreds injured.

Israelis Kill and Rampage - U.S. Rhetorically Complains but in Reality Helps
(March 9, 2002)
Serious and urgent questions need to be asked: Why have not the governments of Egypt and Jordan at the very least broken political relations with Israel; and why in fact are these governments actually preventing demonstrations against what the Israelis are doing?

The Israeli Spy CoverUp
(March 9, 2002)
In addition to the "spy coverup" there is now a "media coverup". "We stand by the story" said a FOX News spokesman on 20 December. But now "The Story No Longer Exists" and FOX News has covered up the story of what happened, and why.

American Univ in Washington - Second Rate and Third Class
(March 8, 2002)
When it comes to international affairs and matters relating to the Middle East serious and honest people should keep away from American University in Washington, DC.

Now the US Says it was the Iranians and the Palestinians not the Libyans. Right!
(March 8, 2002)
You just gotta love the Americans, no shame at all. All these years they have been repeatedly and loudly insisting it was the Libyans who bombed Pan Am 103 out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland - more than a decade of sanctions ensued in fact.

Israeli Spying on US - Spiked Story from FOX News - Who Done It?
(March 7, 2002)
Just who pressured FOX News? Why did FOX News cave in so easily? What now months later when an expanded story is not just coming back to life in foreign publications but appears to be the greatest spy scandal ever involving the Israelis spying on the Americans?

Israeli Spying On The U.S. - Essential Background
(March 6, 2002)
The world of spying, like the world of "black ops", is full of confusion, disinformation, and false leads. Those in the media, even the biggest establishment news outlets, usually lack the means (as well as the will) to penetrate very far into this world on their own.

LeMonde on the Israeli Spy Ring in U.S.
(March 5, 2002)
Tremendous pressure was brought to bear in a coverup in which the U.S. government is now thought to have participated.

Israeli Spy Rings Rolled Up in U.S.
(March 5, 2002)
Israeli spying on the U.S. has long been going on; but it is usually covered up or glossed over by the major American news media.

Arafat in Dog Kennel, Sharon in Twilight Zone, Hosni Lost in Space
(March 5, 2002)
After some 20 years in power Hosni Mubarak, chatting with George Bush II today at the White House, has helped lead his country to nowhere, the Palestinians to disaster, and the Arab world to impotent feebleness. More on Mubarak and his shameless Egypt to come -- for he as well as Saudi Abdullah are Lost in Space.




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