Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 2003, pages 48-50

Issues in the News

Compiled by Nizar Wattad

ARABIAN PENINSULA

Bahrain Women Launch Project to Fight Child Abuse

According to the Jan. 29 Gulf News online, the Bahrain Women’s Society (BWS)—with the support of the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights—has launched “Be Free,” a project aimed at fighting child abuse in the Gulf state. At a press conference, BWS Vice-President Dr. Sorour Qanouni called for “a generation free from abuse and neglect.” While precise statistics on the number of abused children in Bahrain are hard to come by, she noted, a recent BWS study of 175 households showed that almost 60 percent had experienced “some kind of abuse.”
The project, which is being supported emphatically by Sheikha Hala al-Khalifa (wife of Bahrain’s crown prince), involves 15 activists working on a voluntary basis. Nor is the abuse they seek to identify and combat limited to physical or sexual abuse, Qanouni remarked. She defined “child abuse” as “any action that endangers or harms a child’s physical or emotional health and development,” especially emotional abuse that includes yelling, name-calling, and derision. BWS hopes to educate children and parents on the types of abuse and how they can be avoided, as well as providing counseling and support for abused children and working to enhance anti-child abuse laws in Bahrain and the region. Plans include a special center for abused children, scheduled to open by December 2003, which will offer a 24-hour help line that children can call for advice.

Saudi Arabia to Limit Expats, Create Jobs for Nationals

According to a report in the Feb. 5 Saudi Gazette, nearly three million expatriates employed in Saudi Arabia could be fired in the next decade in an attempt to create more jobs for citizens. On Feb. 2, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz announced that the number of foreign workers and family members will be reduced to 20 percent of the Saudi population by 2013, a predicted drop of 8 percent—or around 2.5 million expats.

In addition, each foreign nationality will be limited via quota to a maximum of 10 percent of the total expatriate population. The system will particularly affect foreigners from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan and Syria—whose numbers all exceed the new limit.

The move, stated Manpower Council Secretary-General Abdul Waheed al-Humaid, is intended to prevent “an economic and social catastrophe” in a country where 90 percent of working-age women and 20 percent of working-age men are currently unemployed—about half the Saudi national workforce. Adjusting the figures to account for parents raising children still puts the number of unemployed Saudis at around 20 percent.

For Saudi economist Ihsan Bu-Hulaiga, the solution is a no-brainer. “The domestic market is saturated with foreigners,” he said, “some of whom are unemployed. They compete with Saudi job-seekers.” Saudi Arabia’s current plan to facilitate the entry of Saudi job-seekers into the private sector involves an annual decrease in the expatriate population of around 2.5 percent, with the goal
of creating over 800,000 new jobs for Saudis by 2005.

Saudi Officials Focus on Reform, Human Rights

The Feb. 2 Arab News reported a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and a group of Saudi intellectuals and academics, in which a number of vital issues were discussed, including the possibility of holding elections for the consultative shura council. The talks, which focused on issues of government reform, stressed the importance of transparency, freedom of expression, and developing civilian institutions. Reformists who took part in the meeting described the talks as “constructive.”

The meeting took place less than a week after Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif met with five representatives of Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based international human rights organization, as reported in the Jan. 27 Arab News. This marked the first time HRW has visited Saudi Arabia, an event HRW official Steve Crawshaw called “a clear sign that change is taking place.”

Crawshaw, a former journalist with the London-based Independent, noted that none of the interviews HRW requested had been refused and that everyone they had spoken with had been “extremely frank.”

These visits both follow the charter for political, economic and social reform throughout the Arab world unveiled by Crown Prince Abdullah in early January, part of a two-year old government effort to implement reform in Saudi Arabia and throughout the region. Saudi Arabia has ratified U.N. conventions on racial discrimination, discrimination against women, against torture, and on children’s rights, and may also ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Also proposed is a national human rights institution, while major structural and procedural changes in the legal system already are underway.

FERTILE CRESCENT

Queen Rania Launches Arab-Western Dialogue

The Jan. 28-29 Jordan Times reported that Jordan’s Queen Rania participated in the 33rd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, as the only serving Arab member of the WEF Foundation Board. Queen Rania was extended an invitation to join the board in September 2002 in recognition of her demonstrated commitment to meeting global challenges, and took advantage of the opportunity to host a dialogue entitled “Arab and Western Women—Building Trust Together.”

Addressing a group of Arab and Western women gathered to discuss ways of promoting cultural understanding, Rania suggested “that each one of us arrange intercultural exchanges between Arab and Western women…The point is to really take steps to build trust between us…We should remember how much power we have to make a difference in women’s lives.”

At a larger gathering of 800 prominent WEF delegates, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the queen suggested that conflict-ridden areas desperately need a “peaceline” to facilitate advancement, prosperity and growth.

“Today,” Queen Rania said, “just as a pipeline connects areas rich in resources like water or oil with areas that lack these essential resources, a ‘peaceline’ is needed to bring the benefits of peace to regions in conflict.” Decades of conflict, she explained, have sown seeds of distrust between nations and diminished prospects for peace. “People who are trapped by failed hopes can easily become disillusioned and cynical about values like peace and tolerance. And cynicism is contagious.” Through a serious global commitment to creating peace, however, and an emphasis on non-violence, that trust can be regained, she maintained: “We have to keep the hope alive, continue the dialogue and top it all up with plenty of hard work.”

U.N.: Israel’s South Lebanon Buzz Raids “Serious Breaches”

The United Nations News Center reported on Feb. 4 that, nearly two years after Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Israeli air violations of the Blue Line of withdrawal “are continuing and seem to have increased.” These violations usually take the form of “buzz raids”—aircraft flying at low altitude over populated areas, leading to sonic booms and the impression of an attack. The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported the previous day that six such violations had taken place, and that the Israeli practice of avoiding direct flights over UNIFIL’s area of operation and entering Lebanese airspace further north also was continuing.

As a response to these violations, noted U.N. official Staffan de Mistura, Lebanese forces have directed anti-aircraft fire across the Blue Line. “The aerial violations and the response to them create a potential for escalation in an already very tense regional situation,” he warned. “One violation does not justify another.” The U.N. Security Council recently issued a resolution expressing great concern over these “serious breaches.”

Damascus Hosts Arab Women’s Forum

In early February, Syria’s first lady Asma Assad hosted a three-day forum on the status of women in the Arab world. The forum, Syria Daily online reported Feb. 3, was attended by first ladies from around the Arab world, including Bahrain’s Sheikha Soukayna ae-Khalifa, Sudan’s Fatima al-Bashir, Egypt’s Suzanne Mubarak, Jordan’s Queen Rania, and Lebanon’s Andrée Lahoud. Also present was Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

The forum was intended to examine the status of women in the Arab world and encourage them to broaden their horizons. Lahoud praised Assad’s efforts, calling the forum part of “an important phase in the Arab women’s history of struggle, especially under the prevailing atmosphere.” Assad said her emphasis was on women’s education and work as “an integral part of my identity and national duty,” as well as “a fulfillment of economic needs.”

IRAN/IRAQ

Iran’s Arts, Culture Budget Up 73.8 Percent Next Fiscal Year

According to the Jan. 22 Tehran Times, a senior Iranian budget planner has announced that the budget bill for the 2003-2004 fiscal year allocates $523 million for cultural, artistic, youth and sports programs. Figures provided by Rajabali Khosroabadi, director-general of the government’s Culture and Arts Affairs Department, indicate that the budget for the culture and arts sectors will be increased by 73.8 percent, while that for sports will rise 92.9 percent. Khosroabadi said the money will be used to offset overdue cinematography debts, build public libraries, organize cultural and arts festivals, and raise funds for women’s social and cultural activities. Funds will also be spent on completing 200 cultural development projects, establishing 85 cultural centers, renovating the National Library and the National Iranian Film House, modernizing 950 gymnasiums, setting up 67 nationwide sports centers and building 2,000 schools.

Iran, India Oppose Iraq War

A visit to India by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami resulted in what the Indian Foreign Office called “a cent-per-cent success,” according to the Jan. 28 Times of India. The two nations have signed an agreement on oil and gas cooperation, and Indian officials present for Khatami’s departure noted that the Iranians left “visibly happy.”

At a time when the threat of a U.S. war on Iraq looms large in the region, Indian minister of state for external affairs Digvijay Singh insisted that Tehran and New Delhi are “totally in agreement” on the Iraq crisis. “Both have the same perception,” Singh said, “that the sovereignty and integrity of a nation should not be disturbed, that the people of that country should be allowed to decide their polity and that there should be no war.” Singh brushed off suggestions that this stance may displease the U.S. and Britain, and cited international opposition to the war “from a majority of the nations.”

The new Iran-India agreement involves developing India’s Chabahar port, which provides India crucial entry to the sea-road-rail link that Khatami is seeking to establish through Iran to Central Asia.

Antiwar, Media Groups Launch Electronic Iraq

Veteran antiwar group Voices in the Wilderness has teamed up with Middle East supplementary news publishers the Electronic Intifada to launch Electronic Iraq, an online source for news, analysis, statistics and activist updates on developments with Iraq. According to a Feb. 8 EI press release, “The Electronic Iraq Web site utilizes the latest in technology to publish reports from around the world, including from on the ground in Iraq, easily added to the site by nontechnical writers and editors of the Electronic Iraq team.”

Voices in the Wilderness is a group committed since 1996 to ending the economic sanctions against the Iraqi people, while the Electronic Intifada has gained notoriety for its in-depth analysis of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Like the new Electronic Iraq, the Electronic Intifada’s analysis is based on the foundations of universal human rights and international law. The new Web site can be found at: <http://electronicIraq.net>.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Israeli Officer Tried for Sabotaging Raid

The British Guardian reported on Feb. 3 that an Israeli military officer, identified only as “Lieutenant A,” has been court-martialed for refusing to obey an order he said was illegal because it targeted innocent Palestinians. The lieutenant considered his order suspect when air force officials asked him to identify a building and find out how many people would be in it at the time of a planned attack. Usually, according to sources in the prestigious intelligence corps Unit 8200, officers are asked to identify the whereabouts of specific individuals the army wants to target.

The unusual nature of the order led Lieutenant A to believe that the Israeli military intended “to cause random casualties,” and that the operation “would lead to the death of innocent Palestinians.” The officer’s trial has divided the Israeli military, with senior officers insisting Lieutenant A had no right to unilaterally foil the mission—which was cancelled due to lack of intelligence—and junior officers agreeing with A’s decision. One officer referred to a law enacted after the 1956 Kafr Kassem massacre of 47 Arabs by Israeli border policemen, which specifies that “it is illegal to kill except in very specific circumstances. This case is being widely talked about in the army now,” the officer noted, “and there’s a lot of people who think he was right to do what he did…You do not have to be the trigger man to be guilty of a crime.” Perhaps thanks to the high level of support his refusal has encountered, Lieutenant A was court-martialed and transferred to a low-level administrative position instead of being jailed, as is usually the case with Israeli refuseniks.

Settlers Receive More State Funds, Pay Lower Taxes

The Associated Press reported on Feb. 3 that, according to Israel’s Settlers Council, the number of Jewish settlers in the occupied territories grew by 12,000 in 2002 to a total of 226,028, not counting occupied Arab Jerusalem. These figures, as reported by the settlers themselves, include Israelis who have left the settlements but have not officially changed their addresses. According to one official at the Interior Ministry, this is because settlers pay lower taxes.

That being the case, the majority of the money transferred to West Bank settlements in 2001 must have come from the pockets of non-settler Israelis—and, of course, from American taxpayers via U.S. aid to Israel. According to the Jan. 23 Ha’aretz, a Peace Now study conducted by economist Dror Tsaban, a former official in Israel’s Finance Ministry, estimates the amount to be around $440 million. That figure does not include the cost of maintaining a military presence in the territories or other state-incurred costs. Most of the money took the form of “surplus allocations,” caused by the settlers’ per capita budget being higher than the average per capita allocation in Israel, and by benefits to settlements such as the aforementioned tax exemptions.

The report’s main findings are that, on average, a West Bank settler receives $683 in state funds annually, compared to $353 per non-settler Israeli. Also, almost 10 percent of the respective budgets of Israel’s Housing and Transport Ministries in 2001 were spent on settlements and settlement roads.

NORTH AFRICA

Suzanne Mubarak Launches Projects for Women

According to the Jan. 28 ArabNews online, Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, chairperson of the National Council for Women (NCW), has launched several projects aimed at improving NCW services throughout Egypt. The projects, based in Cairo, include a training center for women who own small businesses, and boast the most advanced information center in Egypt, dedicated to collecting and publishing accurate data on the status of Egyptian women. At the opening of the new center, Mrs. Mubarak, asserting the importance of improving women’s status in the government’s development plans, called the appointment of the first female judge in Egypt’s history “a great leap forward toward removing obstacles to women’s progress.”

Sudan Maintains Covert Ties With Israel

According to rumors circulating in diplomatic circles, one of the conditions the U.S. has given the Khartoum government for arbitration in Sudan’s peace talks is a normalization of relations with Israel. Whether these rumors prove true or not, said the Jan. 14 online Middle East and North Africa Business Report (<menareport.com>) and Israel’s Ma’ariv of the same day, the two nations are already nurturing unofficial ties, especially in the realm of agriculture and irrigation.

Contact allegedly began in the late 1990s, when a Sudanese minister supposedly initiated contact with Israeli officials while visiting Morocco and Qatar. Last year, Israeli media reports asserted that employees of the Sudanese government were receiving agricultural training in Israel, including the study of drip irrigation systems and technologies used to maximize crop yields.

This cooperation troubles some Egyptians, who fear that Israeli water engineers working in Ethiopia and Sudan could reduce the flow of Egypt’s only freshwater source, the Nile. These fears are somewhat justified—the Sudanese government first incurred U.N. sanctions after allegedly aiding in a 1995 assassination bid on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Nevertheless, Israel’s role in Sudan can hardly be described as one-sided: Israel is also suspected of providing logistical and military support to Sudan’s southern Christian rebels.

THE SUBCONTINENT

India Attempts Population Transfer

According to the Feb. 4 Bangladesh Daily Star, India made 16 unsuccessful attempts to “push” at least 2,500 Bangla-speaking Indian nationals into Bangladesh between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2. These so-called “push-in” attempts took place in the context of an Indian society that is growing increasingly hostile to non-Hindus, and have prompted regional response. According to Bangladesh Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border guards are “on the highest alert and [their] vigilance along the border areas has been strengthened.” The exiled Indian nationals ran out of food and water in the no-man’s-land between the countries before BDR troops pushed them back into India. The push-in attempts, Chowdhury warns, “are not conducive to the improvement of friendly relations between Bangladesh and India, and the practice is against international norms.”

18 Million Illegal Firearms in Pakistan

According to a report in the Jan. 14 Times of India, of the 20 million firearms privately held in Pakistan, about 18 million are illegal. While an anti-gun campaign launched in 2001 by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has led to the recovery of 210,000 illegal weapons, the vast majority of such arms are still in the hands of their owners, most of whom reside in the semi-autonomous tribal regions on the Afghanistan border. Reports reveal that many of these weapons were smuggled over that border into Pakistan, while local imitation weapons producers in the tribal town of Darra Adamkhel operate some 900 illegal arms factories and 150 weapons and ammunition shops.

CENTRAL ASIA

U.S. to Boost Aid to Afghanistan in 2003

According to the Jan. 28 Christian Science Monitor, the United States is boosting its aid to Afghanistan this year by some $30 million over last year’s package. The aid will be crucial in either cementing the nation’s stability, or assuring a return to the chaos and tumult of the last two decades. Says Kabul-based U.N. official Maki Shinohara, “The government [in Kabul] will be under pressure to show the people that their lives have improved, and for that we need the continued attention of the international community [of donors].”

Leading this community is the Bush administration, which has pledged $300 million to $400 million this year in non-military spending in Afghanistan, up from $271 million last year. This money will go toward the reconstruction of 1,200 primary schools, 600 health clinics, hundreds of wells, and three major irrigation systems, as well as to democracy-building projects and roads.

Armenian Nuclear Plant Poses Threat to Region

According to a report in the Jan. 24 Turkish Daily News, an outdated Armenian nuclear power plant may pose a great danger to neighboring countries and result in the possible deaths of millions. The report cites Italian Ferrara University Prof. Hayrettin Kilic, an expert on nuclear waste and security, who asserts that in a worldwide rating of nuclear power plants the Armenian Metzamor plant is listed among the worst in both quality and technology. The plant, which Kilic calls “a regional problem” of “tremendous” risk, was ordered closed after pressure from the European Union, but opened again in 1995 following an energy crisis.

Among the plant’s most glaring problems: its 33-year-old technology contains no safeguards against accidents or natural disasters, and stands directly on a fault line just nine miles away from the nearest residential areas (international regulations demand that distance be a minimum of 62.5 miles). As a result, Kilic argues, people living around the plant should be evacuated. Turkish Atomic Energy Institution Deputy Chairman Dr. Erdener Birol agreed, calling the Metzamor plant “similar to the one in Chernobyl,” and posing similar risks.