Pressure on Israeli Government for US Traitor Pollard's Release

Many of us think that one of George Bush's final outrages before leaving office will be pardoning this American traitor.

PM says willing to cooperate with comptroller on Pollard affair

By Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz Correspondent

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday reneged on his previous statements and said he was willing to cooperate with State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on the Jonathan Pollard affair.

Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy, was convicted of selling military secrets to Israel while working at the Pentagon. He was arrested in 1985 and pleaded guilty at his trial. He is serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.

The prime minister on Monday told MK Zevulun Orlev, head of the Knesset's State Control Committee which oversees the workings of the state comptroller, that Cabinet Secretary Ovad Yehezkel and his political advisor, Shalom Turjeman, have already given the comptroller all the information that was at the government's disposal regarding the case.

However, the prime minister added, he would cooperate in addressing any remaining questions in writing and would disclose further material if needed.

A few months ago, Lindenstrauss started compiling a report on whether Israel has been doing everything within its capacity to ensure the release of the jailed spy.

Lindenstrauss then criticized Olmert in what could be construed as accusing him of creating the impression that the inquiry into the government's conduct in the affair puts Pollard's potential release at risk.

Lindenstrauss said then: "If I'm wrong I'll be the first to admit it, and I wish I am, but someone here is behaving in a shady manner."

Last update - 23:55 19/05/2008

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985041.html

Another Witness on Bush-Cheney Iran War Plan

COMMENT: this jibes with Lebanon Daily Star story that US pressed Israel to bomb Hezbollah in Beirut in May, 2008.

White House denies Iran attack report

By JPOST.COM STAFF

The White House on Tuesday flatly denied an Army Radio report that claimed US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term. It said that while the military option had not been taken off the table, the Administration preferred to resolve concerns about Iran's push for a nuclear weapon "through peaceful diplomatic means."

Army Radio had quoted a top official in Jerusalem claiming that a senior member in the entourage of President Bush, who concluded a trip to Israel last week, had said in a closed meeting here that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for.

The official reportedly went on to say that "the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic for the time being.

The Army Radio report, which was quoted by The Jerusalem Post and resonated widely, stated that according to assessments in Israel, the recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah has de facto established control of the country, was advancing an American attack.

Bush, the official reportedly said, considered Hizbullah's show of strength to constitute evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's growing influence. In Bush's view, the official said, "the disease must be treated - not its symptoms."

However, the White House on Tuesday afternoon dismissed the story. In a statement, it said that "[the US] remain[s] opposed to Iran's ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon. To that end, we are working to bring tough diplomatic and economic pressure on the Iranians to get them to change their behavior and to halt their uranium enrichment program.

It went on: "As the President has said, no president of the United States should ever take options off the table, but our preference and our actions for dealing with this matter remain through peaceful diplomatic means. Nothing has changed in that regard."

In an address to the Knesset during his visit here last week, Bush said that "the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages."

"America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions," Bush said. "Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

May 20, 2008 11:00 | Updated May 20, 2008 19:26

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668683139&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Nazis in Israel: Burning the Christian Bible

We saw what happened in Iraq when a soldier shot his gun at a Koran. The Israelis are lucky Christians are a more reasonable people. Sorry, but this is so reminiscent of German students building bonfires of books after Hitler took power.

Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Or Yehuda

By The Associated Press

Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.

Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.

After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.

"The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue," he said.

The newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that hundreds of yeshiva students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched.

"Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were," he said.

He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a commandment to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.

"I certainly don't denounce the burning of the booklets, he said. I denounce those who distributed the booklets."

Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus.

Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel.

Police had no immediate comment.

Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, though in most cases it is not illegal. Still, the concept of a Jew burning books is abhorrent to many in Israel because of the association with Nazis torching piles of Jewish books during the Holocaust of World War II.

Earlier this year, the teenage son of a prominent Christian missionary was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family's West Bank home went off in his hands.

Last year, arsonists burst into a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews and set the building on fire, raising suspicions that Jewish extremists were behind the attack. No one claimed responsibility, but the same church was burned down 25 years ago by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists.

Last update - 18:04 20/05/2008

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985362.html

Report: US Wanted Israel to Bomb Beirut in May 2008

QUOTE: BEIRUT: Israeli security website Debka Files reported on Sunday that the US had given the Israeli government a green light on May 10 to attack Hizbullah, arguing that the Jewish state's military was ready to attack Hizbullah in western Beirut and the South, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Affairs minister Tzipi Livni were "reluctant to do so, which angered the US."

[COMMENT: this story covers two topics, the Beirut Bombing story is the second one.]

Graziano plays down chances of conflict in South

Peacekeeping force has moved into northern ghajar, commander adds

Daily Star staff

Graziano plays down chances of conflict in South

BEIRUT: Major General Claudio Graziano, commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said on Monday the international force started conducting patrols on the Lebanese side of the border region of Ghajar earlier this month, reassuring the Lebanese that no war would erupt again in the South.

In an interview with As-Safir newspaper, Graziano said his forces had not faced any problems south and north of the Litani River during recent clashes between government and opposition supporters.

"The Lebanese Armed Forces [LAF] has taken security measures in the whole region and has cooperated, as usual, with the international force without facing any obstacles," he said. "All Lebanese parties have agreed to fully support UNIFIL and the latest incidents have not posed any danger on our mission."

"In fact, political and security stability in Lebanon are necessary for us to accomplish our mission successfully," he added.

Highlighting the importance of the "excellent" relationship between UNIFIL and the LAF, Graziano avoided tackling the issue of the presidential election.

"We are looking forward to boosting cooperation with the Lebanese Army and on the personal level, I have an excellent relationship with its commander [consensus presidential candidate General Michel Suleiman]," he said.

The Italian commander rejected claims that UNIFIL had become an "Israeli eye."

"We discuss with the Israelis the issue of violations when they occur but we do not give any information about South Lebanon to anyone," Graziano said, adding that the continuous Israeli violations of Lebanon's airspace are "unjustifiable."

Asked about the issue of the border region of Ghajar, Graziano vowed to deliver "good news" in the next couple of months.

"UNIFIL has started carrying out patrols in Ghajar's Lebanese part as of May 5 and now we have some information about an Israeli withdrawal from the remaining area to give way to our force to fulfill the humanitarian needs of the residents of the northern side," he said.

The default Israeli-Lebanon border, the Blue Line, places one-third of Ghajar in Lebanese territory and the other two-thirds on the Israeli side, contributing to a tenuous situation in and around the village.

According to Graziano, one cannot ignore terrorist threats because "they might happen," in reference to threats launched by Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri earlier last month.

"We have some modern protection techniques to deal with such threats," he said, stressing the need to maintain cooperation with LAF.

Zawahiri had called on Sunni extremists in Lebanon to take up arms against United Nations peacekeepers.

About a new war, Graziano said: "There is no benefit to any party from both sides of the Blue Line to launch a new conflict south the Litani."

"But we are ready to face any threat launched by any party," he added. "I can reassure the Lebanese that there will be no war here and that we are capable of preventing any attacks."

Tackling the issue of cluster bombs littering in the South dropped by Israel during its 2006 war on Lebanon, Graziano expressed satisfaction over the efforts deployed by the UN Mine-Action Center (UNMAC), while voicing discontent with the Israeli cooperation in this regard.

"According to UNMAC, cluster-bomb-clearance operations will be concluded by the start of next spring as 60 percent of land has been cleared," he said. "The maps offered by Israel are not enough; we need the coordinates they have used to launch those munitions."

"They vowed to do so and we hope they will," he added. - The Daily Star

US urged Israel to 'surprise' Hizbullah during internal clashes - report

BEIRUT: Israeli security website Debka Files reported on Sunday that the US had given the Israeli government a green light on May 10 to attack Hizbullah, arguing that the Jewish state's military was ready to attack Hizbullah in western Beirut and the South, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Affairs minister Tzipi Livni were "reluctant to do so, which angered the US."

The site, which specializes in intelligence and security news, quoted a high-ranking source who accompanied US President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Israel as saying "Israel missed a golden chance to destroy one of its four main rivals who threaten its security in the region, which are Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas."

The site reported that an Israeli intelligence source said that if Israel were to attack Lebanon, Hizbullah would bombard the north of Israel with 600 rockets daily.

According to Debka, the White House pressured the Israeli prime minister to go through with the attack on Hizbullah, saying that the internal struggles in Lebanon, with Hizbullah using its weapons against rival parties, presented Israel with a rare opportunity.

The site quoted US intelligence sources as claiming that Hizbullah moved 5,000 of its gunmen toward Beirut after they realized that the Israeli Army was not willing to launch any operations on the border, and it was at this moment that the US asked Israel to "surprise" Hizbullah.

The site said that the plan was for the Israeli Air Force to launch continuous strikes on Hizbullah positions in western Beirut and the South, which would allow its rivals to open a simultaneous front from the inside.

"The Israeli tank divisions would enter the Lebanese border at the same time and head for Beirut on two fronts, the first being the coastal road, and the second being the road of Nabatiyeh, Jezzine and Zhalta Aley," it added. - The Daily Star

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=92202

Israel Negotiating with Hamas "Terrorists"

What will George Bush do? He's always exhorting people not to deal with Hamas "terrorists." Will he punish Israel?

'Gov't negotiating with Hamas contrary to its own decision'

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Vice Premier Haim Ramon acknowledged on Monday that Israel is conducting negotiations with Hamas - contrary to the government's own policy on the matter, even if those talks are held via Egyptian mediator Omar Suleiman.

"Negotiations are being conducted with Hamas in contrast to the government's decision, which has determined that it will only be possible to deal with Hamas after it accepts the conditions of the Quartet," Ramon stated during a Gaza policy discussion which was held as part of a Kadima faction meeting.

"We aren't fighting against a terror organization, rather a state of terrorism," Ramon continued, "a terror organization has an area under its control and Israel cannot, in my opinion, make peace with a Hamas state on the southern border."

"We decided that we would speak with Hamas only if it accepts the Quarter's conditions. I really hope that we will take the strategic position to reconcile ourselves to accepting a Hamas state on our borders," the vice premier stated.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the government would not let Independence Day celebrations and elaborate State visits detract attention from the situation in the South of the country. He reminded Kadima MKs about his comments from Sunday, in which he warned of possible action to stop the unrelenting Kassam rocket fire.

"I said the decision is getting closer and closer," Olmert said. He added that the "perpetual threat has reached a climax," and vowed not to let the current reality for residents of the South continue for much longer.

"The hour of decision is near," he assured, repeating comments he made during Sunday's cabinet meeting.

May 19, 2008 13:10 | Updated May 19, 2008 19:18

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668676341&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Cause of Antisemitism Discovered by ADL Chief

QUOTE: Foxman attributed anti-Semitism to jealousy that so many Jews excel at what they do. "What is the antidote? Not to tell our children to succeed, not to win wars, not to defend our people?"

Foxman: Good PR can't stop anti-Semitism

By GREER FAY CASHMAN

The problem of anti-semitism cannot be solved by a clever publicist, several panelists at the Facing Tomorrow conference said Thursday in Jerusalem.

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, through which he has been battling anti-Semitism for the past 43 years, said it matters little what and how Jews do - the truth has little impact on how Jews or Israel are perceived.

The paradox, he said, is that despite all evidence to the contrary, Jews believe that "it will matter what we do, what we say and how we act."

Foxman attributed anti-Semitism to jealousy that so many Jews excel at what they do.

"What is the antidote? Not to tell our children to succeed, not to win wars, not to defend our people?"

This was obviously not the solution to a persistent problem, he said.

"The perception of a Jew is irrational and it's a disease."

Adding that anti-Semitism comes out of religion or economics, Foxman said the truth matters little to the minds of those who are diseased.

Yet for all that, he said, Jews don't have a choice.

"We have to go out there and try and correct the faults of defamation."

While the Internet is widely regarded as the golden age of information, he said, "it is also the golden age of disinformation and mis-information. We are living on a super highway of canards."

According to Foxman, the Internet had changed the nature of the challenge with which Jews are confronted when combatting anti-Semitism.

American pollster and opinion analyst Stanley Greenberg, a former pollster for President Clinton, who in recent years has been commissioned by numerous Jewish organizations to take surveys on matters relating to Jews and Israel, said that, while no amount of information will change anti-Semitic attitudes, "the stakes are too high to make the assumption that we can't impact these attitudes.."

In Greenberg's opinion, Israel does not need a good publicist, it needs a good strategy.

Citing surveys that he had taken over various periods of time, he pointed out that since 9/11, Americans are more inclined to see Israel as an ally of the United States than they were before.

Maurice Levy, chairman and CEO of the Publicis group, which is the largest advertising group in Europe, was upset that in this day and age there has to be a session at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration that deals with anti-Semitism.

"[Anti-semitism] should not exist - it's almost insane. No other religion has been targeted so widely or so generally as the Jewish religion - and not just for ten years but for 2,000 years."

Focusing on attitudes in Europe, Levy said that after World War Two it was taboo to express anti-Semitism by word or deed, so people hid their anti-Semitic inclinations in public.

There was also sympathy for Holocaust survivors and the fledgling state of Israel.

But that didn't mean that anti-Semitism was not lurking beneath the surface.

After the Six Day War in 1967, he recalled, he was lunching with a colleague who said to him: "Now that you've won, you can go back to your country."

In 1977, sympathies in France shifted gears, Levy said, moving from the Jews or the Israelis to the Palestinians. People who had once supported Jews and Israel began to criticize. Their anti-Zionist criticism of Israel quickly moved to anti-Semitism, especially among young politicians and intellectuals, and for the past 15 years. extremists have been making anti-Semitic utterances on television, and using Jewish-related expressions which are unacceptable.

Linda Lingele, the first female Governor of the State of Hawaii, said that when she first came to Israel in 2004, she saw that the reality was much different from the perception.

Difficult though the task may be, Lingele was convinced that the Jewish people, acting on a one-to-one basis, can change perceptions and convince the world that Israel has the right to exist.

"As Jews we have to insist that Israel has a responsibility to exist," she said. "We have to each commit ourselves to be personal publicists for the State of Israel."

May 15, 2008 22:13 | Updated May 16, 2008 13:22

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668649583&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

George Bush May Have Killed His Legacy Himself

QUOTE: . . .prior to his departure from Sharm el-Sheikh, Abbas was informed that the United States intended to backtrack on efforts to achieve progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. . . a European source, who claimed that the Americans were not interested in exerting pressure or confronting Israel,. . .

[COMMENT Bush and Rice have been pushing the *idea* that they can achieve an Israel-Palestine peace agreement at some level before they leave office next January -- it was to be about the only success he would have for his "legacy." It appears that no matter what they say in public, they have adopted policies that make peace impossible. This is really not surprising: there have been reports that Christian Zionist leaders have threatened Bush more than once that if he pressured Israel they'd abandon him. Given the poor prospects for Republicans in November, Bush will have to sacrifice his "peacemaker" legacy to assure Christian Zionists will not abandon Republican candidates at the election.]

'Abbas to declare negotiations failed'

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Less than a week after a speech by US President George W. Bush spurred condemnation from Palestinian Authority officials - who accused the American leader of being one-sided in peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis - PA President Mahmoud Abbas has come to the conclusion that peace talks have failed, the London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Monday.

Citing PA sources, the article said that prior to his departure from Sharm el-Sheikh, Abbas was informed that the United States intended to backtrack on efforts to achieve progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. According to the paper, the report was given to Abbas from a European source, who claimed that the Americans were not interested in exerting pressure or confronting Israel, and that the US was "allowing Israel full freedom to take a stance which would serve its policies, its security, and its interests alone."

Another diplomatic source told the paper that the PA president received reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Shas chairman Eli Yishai had come to an understanding in which the former has promised the latter that plans to build thousands of apartment units around Jerusalem and in the West Bank would be approved - this in an attempt to reinforce the premier's foundering coalition.

Given these reports, the source told the paper that Abbas planned to give a speech in Ramallah, during which he would announce that negotiations had failed and blame Israel for the failure. The source added that the PA president would also blame the US for its lack of commitment to the peace process.

Abbas had planned to make a similar announcement following his disappointing visit to Washington in April, because he had heard that "the American government did not plan to pressure Israel into making concessions to the Palestinians," the source told the paper.

May 19, 2008 10:20 | Updated May 19, 2008 14:49

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668671801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Protest against extradition of Israeli who trained Escobar militia

Friends, former soldiers of IDF reserve officer sentenced to prison by Colombian court, after being convicted of training Pablo Escobar's militia men, rally to demand Israel prevent his extradition from Moscow

Roi Mandel

'Yair Klein risked his life saving us - now we must now save him' was the battle cry sounded by dozens of reservist paratroopers as they rallied outside the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jerusalem on Sunday morning to protest the extradition of Lt. Col. (res) Yair Klein, who is currently being detained in Moscow, to Colombia.

Klein was convicted of training the private army of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. In particular, Klein was accused of teaching the militia troops how to carry out high-profile killings such as the 1989 assassination of anti-cartel presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán.

He was convicted and sentenced in-absentia to a 10-year prison term in 2001 by a Colombian court. Since that time, the Colombian police have launched a manhunt for the fugitive 61-year-old, who in 2007 made Interpol's list of wanted criminal.

Last August, Klein was finally spotted and arrested at a Moscow airport by Russian authorities.

The Russian Supreme Court will assemble on Wednesday to discuss the appeal filed by Attorney Mordechai Tzivin regarding Colombia's request for Klein's extradition.

With the court date looming, Klein's colleagues from his military service decided to launch their campaign to convince the Foreign Ministry to rescind the extradition. In a letter sent to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Klein's friends protest the "abandonment" of a fellow soldier in the battlefield.

"We all know that turning him over to Colombia means a death sentence for Yair Klein," Yoel Sharon, a disabled IDF veteran and Klein's subordinate in the Yom Kippur War told Ynet. "We mustn't abandon a warrior who saved the lives of dozens of Israeli soldiers... the power to save him from the noose is in our hands."

Amnon Schwartz, a paratrooper whose life Klein saved in the Suez Canal, believes his ex-commander is an innocent man who is being falsely accused: "Yair is being charged with immoral crimes, yet I there is no one in the world who shares the moral values Yair has, at least no one I know.

"Israel must take care of him because he is one of the country's best men. Yair has never abandoned a fellow soldier in the battlefield. Time after time, he would enter Suez under heavy fire to rescue about 60 soldiers. Now it's his turn under the fire and the country is ready to abandon him?"

Published: 05.18.08, 16:37 / Israel News

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3544752,00.html

Israel Core Issue in Osama Bin Laden's Fight

This is nothing new: Osama mentioned Isreal in his first tape in 2001. George Bush even mentioned Israel in his first speeches about 9/11. But news media and Bush then left the Israel part of the message out: they didn't want anybody to risk blaming Israel for 9/11.

Osama bin Laden targets Israel on anniversary

By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor

Osama bin Laden vowed to reclaim "every inch of Palestine" today when an audio tape purporting to be from the al-Qa'eda leader was released.

The message was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Israel's foundation.

So far, the tape has not been authenticated. But the words used were consistent with bin Laden's earlier messages.

"We will continue, God permitting, the fight against the Israelis and their allies," said the voice, which sounded like bin Laden's.

"We will not give up a single inch of Palestine as long as there is one true Muslim on earth."

The terrorist leader's latest missive - the fourth to have appeared so far this year - was addressed to "Western peoples" and entitled: "The Causes of Conflict on the 60th Anniversary of the State of Israeli Occupation".

The significance of the tape lies not in its message but the proof offered that bin Laden is alive and at liberty.

Moreover, his ability to release regular missives to his global circle of followers shows that bin Laden has a sophisticated network around him.

In the tape, bin Laden says: "To Western nations: this speech is to understand the core reason of the war between our civilization and your civilians. I mean the Palestinian cause.

"The Palestinian cause is the major issue for my [Islamic] nation. It was an important element in fueling me from the beginning and the 19 others with a great motive to fight for those subjected to injustice and the oppressed," added bin Laden, in reference to the number of terrorists who launched the Sept 11 attacks on America.

Bin Laden said Western leaders were insincere in their expressed desire for Israeli-Palestinian peace and failed to criticise Israel for its attacks against the Palestinian people.

"Peace talks that started 60 years ago are just meant to deceive the idiots," said bin Laden. "After all the destruction and the killings ... your leaders talk about principles. This is unbearable.

"You describe Palestinian organizations as terrorists and you boycott them and punish them while Israelis are killing civilians, women and children," he added.

A spokesman for the Israeli government said: "We do not relate or pay attention to the words of this terrorist lunatic. The time has come for him to be apprehended and pay for his crimes."

The general assumption is that bin Laden has found refuge in the Tribal Areas lining Pakistan's north-west frontier with Afghanistan.

This was the 18th message that bin Laden has released since the terrorist attacks on September 11. Of these, six have been videos and 12 audio tapes.

The last video message appeared in September 2007 - and that contained only a single still image of bin Laden.

This reluctance to release visual images of the al-Qa'eda leader may have two possible explanations. He might have changed his physical appearance in order to avoid capture - or he could be ill and unwilling to show his frailty to the world.

Last Updated: 10:29PM BST 16/05/2008

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1965813/Osama-bin-Laden-targets-Israel-on-anniversary.html

Bush's Other Middle East Enemy: Food

QUOTE: Analysts and officials worry that the crisis could result in food riots. The anger has taken on an increasingly anti-U.S. tone, even among elected officials. Egyptian lawmakers, for example, have accused the United States of causing the crisis by conspiring to keep their country dependent on wheat imports.

Food crisis creates an opening for Muslim fundamentalists

Borzou Daragahi / Los Angeles Times

By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

AMMAN, JORDAN -- The smell of freshly baked bread calms the room filled with women in frayed cloaks and worn slippers. Grateful for the assistance, they walk out of a Muslim Brotherhood social service center into the trash-strewn alley, clutching plastic bags packed with flat bread loaves.

For five years, the Jordanian government has clamped down on the Islamist group's electoral ambitions and its charity programs, suspicious it was using good deeds to win political support.

But the global food crisis has carved out new opportunities for the Brotherhood and other hard-line groups across the Muslim world. Increasingly unaffordable prices underscore criticism of autocratic governments and drive more people toward fundamentalist groups. Though the Brotherhood fared poorly last year in municipal elections, it has been steadily gaining ground in recent months, sweeping votes for the leadership of Jordan's professional associations.

"We used to win some and lose some. Now, we win all of them," said Zaki Bani Arshid, leader of the Islamic Action Front, the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. "The government which tried to marginalize us politically for years has now given us a big gift."

The increase in food prices has challenged America's goals in the Middle East at a critical juncture, when it is attempting to win support from friendly governments for an Israeli- Palestinian peace initiative and for confronting Iran and Al Qaeda.

Analysts and officials worry that the crisis could result in food riots.

The anger has taken on an increasingly anti-U.S. tone, even among elected officials. Egyptian lawmakers, for example, have accused the United States of causing the crisis by conspiring to keep their country dependent on wheat imports.

"If we look at these main factors behind the increase in world food prices and the specter of famine and political turbulence, we will easily reach the conclusion that [the] Bush administration and the bunch of neoconservatives and their foolish policies in waging external wars . . . are, in practice, behind this deep crisis," said an April column in the pro-government daily newspaper Al Watan in Oman, a staunch U.S. ally.

"America is being held responsible for what is happening," said Arshid, of Jordan's Islamic Action Front. "It's supporting these corrupt regimes."

The frustration is potentially more explosive here than in more democratic parts of the developing world.

"People can tolerate anything except when it comes to food," said Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian economist and critic of the government. "The security establishment cannot open a file for the hungry like you can for the political activists. One day you'll wake up and see havoc."

Officials throughout the Middle East have begun importing food, implementing price controls, slashing import duties for foodstuffs and locking in prices for future purchases of wheat and rice. They've also begun preparing local fields for wheat production and making monetary reforms.

Morocco has decided to spend $2 billion to raise public-sector wages. In Egypt, where subsidized bread is synonymous with the people's bond to the state, deadly riots broke out during the 1970s when then-President Anwar Sadat considered slashing the subsidies. President Hosni Mubarak is working to calm an explosive atmosphere marked by a rising inflation rate, labor unrest, strikes and fears that long bread lines may again appear.

Both Jordan and Egypt have raised government salaries and pensions by more than 20%. And Lebanon's Ministry of Social Affairs plans to increase by eightfold the number of people it aids.

Jordanian government officials consider the economic situation their highest priority, a grave, snowballing threat, analysts said. Officials remember the riots that erupted in 1971 when the price of sugar went up and in 1996 when bread prices jumped.

"The government understands the severity of the situation," said Fahd Khitan, a columnist and editor for the independent Amman daily Arab Today.

But awareness has not been enough to forestall the economic repercussions in a country where per-capita annual income is about $5,500 and 60% of workers earn fixed wages as public-sector employees.

Meat and chicken prices have risen 30% since October. The price of a dozen eggs has nearly doubled, to $2.30. And produce has climbed at an even higher rate, with squash soaring from 25 cents a pound to 80 cents and tomatoes from 9 cents a pound to 45 cents.

Jordanians say they've seen able-bodied men sifting through garbage bins. Middle-class families have begun selling off personal belongings to maintain their lifestyle or forgoing fruit or lamb for weeks.

Mohammed Hadid, a leader of a tribe from which the armed forces draw recruits, was shocked when a retired soldier from his tribe told him he had not eaten meat in five months.

"It's still sinking in," Hadid said.

Despite the global nature of the price increases, governments across the Arab world have come under particularly harsh criticism.

Public service employees, especially those who've served in the security forces, cling to the vision of the state as a caretaker. But policies adopted in recent years have decreased official control of prices. Privatization efforts and free-market slogans have only fueled perceptions of corruption, giving teeth to claims that the region's pro-U.S. governments are corrupt lackeys serving only the elite.

"The economic team doesn't believe in the poor," said economist Kamhawi, who often confers with ranking Jordanian officials. "They only care about the rich. They say, 'The poor are failures. We have no interest in helping failures.' "

Opponents of the U.S.-backed governments in the Middle East have been locking on to the food crisis.

"Let the Workers Eat Cake," blared a headline on the front page of the April 30 edition of Al Akhbar, a Lebanese daily newspaper allied with the Shiite militia Hezbollah. The headline accompanied an article about how the government has delayed a decision to increase the minimum wage.

Other than Islamic charities and social wings of militant groups such as Hezbollah or Hamas, there is no tradition of charitable giving to alleviate pressures on the poor.

In Pakistan, parents increasingly send children to religious madrasas instead of public schools, lured by the free lunches. Madrasas have been prime recruiting grounds for militants.

In Lebanon, Saudi-funded Sunni Muslim charities and political parties, as well as Hezbollah, shield their followers from the worst effects of the rising food prices.

"This system of financially helping the poor by political groups has created a great deal of . . . allegiance to politicians and not to state institutions," said analyst Ziad Ayoubi.

In Jordan, the Islamic Action Front has ramped up its charity programs, offering food baskets and financial help to 32,000 families. Requests for help have jumped 30% this year, said Murad Adaileh, who oversees the group's social services programs. Applications for free bread have jumped 50% since the beginning of the year.

On some days, the line outside the food distribution outlet stretches into the streets. The poor come in droves. Wafa Mansour, 39, a cherub-faced mother of two, visits every other day for bread. "Everything is very expensive," she says. "I can't buy vegetables or meat."

Opposition elements led by the Islamic Action Front have called for strikes to protest the prices and the government's privatization plan and are convening a workshop this month to discuss the situation.

"The [Islamists] will reap the benefits" of the crisis, said economist Kamhawi. "They will win by default."

Analysts and officials worry that the middle class will be sapped of its purchasing power and that more young Muslim men will be driven toward extremist groups.

Arab states are considering the creation of an emergency fund to help alleviate spiraling food prices, according to the Jordanian news agency, Petra.

Many Jordanians say members of the army, the pillar of the regime, are being struck hardest by the crisis, unable to make ends meet on salaries of less than $10 per day.

"When you talk to the police officers and the army they're more and more complaining about everything," said Mohammed Masri, an analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan.

Hadid, the tribal leader, recently received reports of security forces selling weapons.

"In the days to come, Al Qaeda won't need to bring weapons and bombs from outside Jordan," Hadid said. "They'll get it from here. The circumstances will allow Al Qaeda to penetrate the security apparatus."

He paused. "There will be explosions."

May 18, 2008

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-food18-2008may18,0,2913579.story