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ARAFAT, U.N., CLINTON, AND BARAK ALL START TAKING THEIR STEPS
IN WHAT APPEARS TO BE CAREFULLY CHOREOGRAPHED POLITICAL DRAMA
BREAKING NEWS GAZA - ARAFAT'S "FORCE 17" ATTACKED WITH MISSILES
MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 11/18:
Carefully coordinated with Clinton, Barak, and Yasser Arafat, the following steps
were taken yesterday at the United Nations -- where of course it is really the
U.S. that is in control and calling the shots, especially when it comes to the
Middle East. This is why Yasser Arafat on the same morning from Gaza made the
"public" statement "ordering" the Palestinians to cease all "shooting from Area
A". And this is also why President Clinton at the same time has asked the Congress
to approve nearly another 1/2 billion dollars for Israel -- over and above all
the other amounts so far this year -- with nearly 1/4 billion more for Egypt,
and $70 million additional for Jordan. And this is why the wobbling Barak government
has been leaking that there are already "unarmed international observers" in
Hebron (placed there in fact in an agreement with the Netanyahu government) and
so new U.N. "observers" might be acceptable to Israel. The plot thickens. Getting
Arafat to end Intifada II, sign a "comprehensive peace", and declare an Israeli-created
and controlled Palestinian State remains high on the Israeli and American agendas
-- now with the U.N. and the Europeans being brought in to help push.
ANNAN MAY CONSULT ON MIDEAST FORCE
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP - Nov 17) � The U.N. Security Council asked Secretary-General
Kofi Annan on Friday to consult with Israel and the Palestinians in the coming
days on the possibility of deploying U.N. observers in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
The decision came as the Palestinians distributed a draft resolution calling
for 2,000 unarmed U.N. military observers to be deployed to help provide
safety and security for Palestinian civilians caught up in the worst
Palestinian-Israeli fighting in decades.
Annan has said any U.N. force for the region needs the consent of Israel � a
call backed by the United States, France, Britain and Canada.
Israel has rejected any kind of international force, insisting that what is
needed is for the Palestinians to abide by last month's agreement at a summit
in Egypt to stop the violence, which has now claimed 230 lives, the vast
majority of them Palestinians.
A week ago, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appealed to the Security Council
to authorize a U.N. protection force. France countered with a proposal that
unarmed military observers � rather than a protection force � be sent to the
region with Israel's consent.
Palestinian U.N. envoy Nasser Al-Kidwa, who met with Israeli U.N. Ambassador
Yehuda Lancry this week, said the draft resolution circulated Friday took into
account some of the French ideas.
But with Israel still refusing to accept any international force, France asked
Annan to consult with both sides to try to find common ground. Annan agreed,
but only on condition that he would have the flexibility to explore options
that both sides can accept, Western diplomats said.
``The Security Council has asked me to explore with the parties how we can
move forward,'' Annan told reporters after a closed-door council meeting.
``And obviously, that also means thinking through what sort of observer
group will be acceptable and what would be the nature of their activities.''
Israel reiterated its objection to any international involvement, insisting on
direct negotiations, which have been the foundation of its past peace
agreements. ``Having said that, the secretary-general enjoys a great deal of
trust and appreciation by the government of Israel and may at any time he
decides explore different ways to restore calm and security to the region with
the government of Israel, as he recently did at Sharm-el-Sheik,'' a spokesman
for Israel's U.N. Mission said.
The Palestinians welcomed Annan's new mandate.
``We, of course, will be ready to talk with the secretary-general,'' al-Kidwa
said. ``We welcome the mandate given to him by the Security Council'' as long
as there is a council decision in the next few days.
Stressing the need to ensure ``impartial international protection of the
Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation,'' the draft
resolution would establish a United Nations Monitoring Force to observe the
situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to deploy to ``locations of
tension and instability where threats, or potential threats, exist to the
safety and security of the Palestinian population.''
BREAKING NEWS TODAY:
GUNMAN KILLS ISRAELI SOLDIER, WOUNDS TWO
ARAFAT'S "FORCE 17" ATTACKED WITH MISSILES
By Shams Odeh
GAZA (Reuters - 18 Nov) - A Palestinian gunman killed one Israeli soldier and
wounded
two before being shot dead in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the Israeli army
said.
An Israeli army statement said Baruch Plum, a 21-year-old staff sergeant
from Tel Aviv, had been killed and two soldiers wounded, one of them
critically, in the early morning attack on an army post near the Jewish
settlement of Kfar Darom.
It said a lone "terrorist" had fired on troops at the post before being
killed in an ensuing gunfight.
A Palestinian security official named the gunman as Baha Said, 30, from
al-Maghazi refugee camp.
Another Palestinian security official said that in a separate incident three
Israeli missiles, possibly fired by a helicopter, had struck a Palestinian
police post in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, wounding four policemen, one of
them critically.
The Israeli army denied the report. "Nothing of the kind happened," an army
spokeswoman said.
Palestinian security officials said the missiles had hit a base of Force 17,
which guards Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who has his headquarters
in Gaza City.
The deaths of the Israeli soldier and the gunman raised the toll in more
than seven weeks of Israeli- Palestinian violence to at least 238, most of
them Palestinians.
Thirteen Israeli soldiers have been killed, as well as 13 Jewish civilians
and 14 Israeli Arabs.
The Israeli army spokeswoman reported an early morning gun battle near the
Jewish settlement of Gush Katif in Gaza. Residents in the West Bank said it
had been one of the quietest nights there since the Palestinian uprising
began on September 28.
ANNAN MAY PUT COPS ON MIDEAST PANEL
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP - Nov 18) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is considering
including police and military experts on the fact-finding commission that will
investigate the recent Israeli-Palestinian violence, U.N. officials say.
Palestinian leaders would like the United Nations to go further, sending an
international
observer force to try to keep the peace in the region. But Israel objects, and
while Annan mediates between the sides, he is mulling whether putting 30 to 40
police and military experts on the fact-finding commission would be the fastest
way to help stop the bloodshed.
The idea was floated Friday as fighting continued in the Middle East. Six people
died in fighting Friday and two more died in a Saturday morning gun battle in
the Gaza Strip, raising the death toll to more than 230 - most of them Palestinian
- in over seven weeks of fighting.
Annan has said repeatedly that his primary concern is to bring a quick end to
the worst Palestinian-Israeli fighting in decades. He has also said that any
U.N. force needs the consent of Israel - a view backed by the United States,
France, Britain and Canada.
At the United Nations on Friday, the Security Council asked Annan to consult
with Israel and the Palestinians in the coming days on the possibility of deploying
U.N. observers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The secretary-general agreed,
but only on the condition that he would have the flexibility to explore options
that both sides can accept, Western diplomats said.
Even if Annan can broker an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians on
some kind of observer force, it will take months to find the 2,000 troops and
get them into the field.
With any move toward a U.N. force stalled for the moment, talk turned to the
fact-finding commission, which is supposed to investigate the causes of the recent
violence.
The Israelis and Palestinians agreed to the fact-finding inquiry under U.S. auspices
at an emergency summit last month in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt. The commission is
to be led by former U.S. Senate Majority leader George Mitchell, a longtime key
player in Northern Ireland peace negotiations.
Annan called for the commission to get on the ground quickly, which would calm
the atmosphere - a call backed by Britain, France and other council members,
Western diplomats said. Including police and military experts who could talk
to their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts would be an important move to de-escalate
the violence, U.N. officials said.
Annan scheduled a late Sunday meeting with Mitchell, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard
said. Annan also scheduled separate Monday meetings with Israeli U.N. Ambassador
Yehuda Lancry and the Palestinian U.N. observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa.
Earlier Friday, the Palestinians distributed a draft resolution calling for 2,000
unarmed U.N. military observers to help provide safety and security for Palestinian
civilians caught up in the violence. Al-Kidwa said they would like a vote on
the draft resolution ``as soon as possible,'' preferably by Nov. 23, because
``the situation on the ground requires speedy action.''
Israel reiterated its objection to any international involvement. It insisted
on direct negotiations, which have been the foundation of its past peace agreements.
In Jerusalem on Friday, Arafat ordered Palestinian gunmen to stop shooting at
Israelis from areas under his control.
``We are trying our best to get our people to stop shooting'' from
Palestinian-controlled
areas, Arafat said. ``There are orders from the Palestinian security council
to stop shooting.''
The move appeared to be an effort to halt return fire that could hurt Palestinian
civilians. It was not clear whether it was a step toward a full-fledged truce
that would bring an end to nearly two months of violence.
Responding to Arafat's call, Barak said ``words are not enough.''
Shortly after Arafat's statement, gunfire came from the Palestinian-controlled
town of Ramallah in the West Bank, directed at nearby Israeli positions. An Israeli
tank shelled an empty building. The Voice of Palestine radio said there were
no injuries.
Among the six deaths Friday was a Palestinian killed in a clash near the West
Bank city of Qalqilya. Elsewhere, two Palestinian teen-agers were killed during
other West Bank clashes, Israeli commandos shot and killed two Palestinian policemen
near Jericho and a 17-year-old was shot to death during fighting in the southern
Gaza Strip.
In fighting Saturday, an Israeli soldier was killed and two more were injured
when a lone Palestinian gunman sprayed gunfire on an army outpost in the Gaza
Strip. The gunman was killed by Israeli return fire, the military said.
In apparent retaliation, Israeli helicopters fired rockets several hours later
on a Gaza post used by Arafat's bodyguards. Four bodyguards were injured, one
of them seriously, near Khan Yunis, Palestinian officials said.
MiD-EasT RealitieS - www.MiddleEast.Org
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