_______ ____ ______ / |/ / /___/ / /_ // M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S / /|_/ / /_/_ / /\\ Making Sense of the Middle East /_/ /_/ /___/ /_/ \\ http://www.MiddleEast.Org News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know! To receive MER regularly email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] EVEN THE U.S. ABSTAINED AND DID NOT VOTE "NO" NEWSFLASH AP - 12/01: U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONDEMNS ISRAELI DOMINANCE OVER JERUSALEM The U.N. General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling Israel's imposition of "its laws, jurisdiction and administration" on Jerusalem illegal. The assembly voted 145-1 to adopt the resolution. Only Israel voted against it, and the United States abstained together with Nauru, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Angola. The resolution said Israel's decision to impose "its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem is illegal and therefore null and void and has no validity". It deplored the transfer by "some states" of their diplomatic missions from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move the assembly said was contrary to a U.N. Security Council resolution on the undecided status of Jerusalem. ARAFAT'S REGIME FACES CHAOS AND ANARCHY MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 12/01: At the core, Yasser Arafat and his entourage of businessmen and cronies who have enriched themselves on the backs of their own people -- Abu Mazen, Nabil Shaath, and Arafat's own wife and the Tawil family topping the list -- have been outmanuever. Whatever Arafat was planning to do, whatever Arafat has secretly promised to do, he now probably lacks the power and the credibility to do. That is among the key reasons Camp David ended without an agreement -- an agreement both the Americans and the Israelis were counting on in view of what Arafat has previously agreed to coupled with the magnitude of bribes and threats they knew they could bring to bear. Al Gore was counting on it as well...and no doubt the Camp David failure and the coming of Intifada II tipped enough votes away for him to probably have lost the American Presidency. Meanwhile, with Intifada II now raging, a few things have been overlooked. While the Israelis are holding new elections, the Palestinians are not. Arafat has essentially castrated the Palestinian Legislative Assembly -- so much so that the leading Palestinian Stateman, Dr. Haider Abdul-Shafi, resigned from it. Arafat has also unilaterally prevented even the co-opted Palestinian elections from taking place. Furthermore, after all the protestations that he would definitely declare a Palestinian State on this date, and then on that date, and then absolutely for sure by the end of the year regardless of what the Israelis did, Arafat continues to back away from doing so more. His real fear it seems is how his own people will react to the kind of crippled and diseased State he would be bringing into being, not about the Israelis who in fact now want such a controlled and surrounded Statelet to legitimize their own policies. And to this vortex of political intrique this very strange comment in today's Ha'aretz article below: "Yasser Arafat has not visited the West Bank since the beginning of October, apparently out of fear that Israel will not allow him to return to his headquarters." Now the Israelis help, and in fact facilitate, Arafat's coming and goings from Gaza hither and yon, sometimes multiple times daily! So what's this comment all about? Is Arafat trying to come up with excuses why he doesn't visit his own people and has not been anywhere in the West Bank since nearly the beginning of Intifada II? There have been credible rumors that Arafat fears a coup against him and is loosing control even over the vast "security" apparatus he in fact was hired by the U.S. and Israel to create. No doubt the CIA and Mossad are very active helping prevent such a coup; and maybe this is a way of giving Arafat excuses he can foist on his own people for keeping his distance from them? PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY ON VERGE OF CHAOS, TOP SECURITY BRASS SAYS By Amos Harel Ha'aretz Military Correspondent [Ha'aretz 30 November 2000] - Israeli defense officials warn that the Palestinian Authority appears to be gradually losing control of the situation in the territories. "The way it looks right now, the situation is fast going toward a state of anarchy" in PA-held areas, a senior defense official said yesterday. He said that the PA is currently acting as if it is two different countries - the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He noted that PA leader Yasser Arafat has not visited the West Bank since the beginning of October, apparently out of fear that Israel will not allow him to return to his headquarters. There are six main security bodies operating in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, headed by chiefs who have competing vested interests. Cooridination among them is limited. Israeli officials say that the various Palestinian services probably hide information from Arafat, so that the PA leader does not have a full picture of what is happening in the territories. The official said Arafat can still stop the violence in the territories, but to do so would mean that the PA security services would pay a high price because they have to battle Fatah and the Tanzim activists with whom they have until now been aligned in fighting Israel. He added that Arafat has several times ordered a halt to shooting from Beit Jala on Gilo, but he has not been heeded in the field. Israeli security experts do not discern much willingness or capability among the Palestinian leadership to end the violence. They recommend easing access to the Temple Mount for prayers during Ramadan in the hopes that this will calm the situation. But they add that Palestinian anger over the many fatalities in recent months is likely to fuel violence. BETHLEHEM CANCELS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS BETHLEHEM � Middle East Newsline - 1 December: The municipality of Bethlehem has decided to cancel this year's Christmas celebrations amid the mini-war between Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, a Palestinian shot at Israeli soldiers guarding Rachel's Tomb, a Jewish holy site in Bethlehem. No one was injured but Rachel's Tomb has been the site of violent confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the city. Over the past two months, seven Palestinians from the Bethlehem area have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops. The escalating violence has caused a drastic drop in the numbers of pilgrims and tourists visiting the city, despite this year being the millennium. Israeli travel restrictions on tourists and non-Palestinians were tightened 10 days ago. ''Manger Square by this time should have been filled with tourists, guides and visitors. Now it is empty,'' said Tony Marcos, a spokesman for the municipality. ''Celebrations for Christmas have been cancelled. In view of the very bad situation we are living in, it doesn't make sense that we celebrate while there are still closures, and so many people have been killed." Municipal officials are discussing whether the giant Norwegian Christmas tree that stands in Manger Square should be decorated with pictures of more than 200 Palestinians killed in fighting or left bare. The cancelled plans included a Christmas craft fair and performances from international choirs in Manger Square on Christmas Eve as well as a series of musical concerts in December and January. MiD-EasT RealitieS - www.MiddleEast.Org Phone: 202 362-5266 Fax: 815 366-0800 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscriibe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject SUBSCRIBE To unsubscribe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject UNSUBSCRIBE
