Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1999, pages 38-42

Issues in the News

Compiled by Delinda C. Hanley

Arabian Peninsula

Arabian Woman Magazine Launched:

The first Saudi Arabian English-language magazine devoted exclusively to women was launched in November, the Saudi Gazette reports. Bakur Azhar, publisher and editor-in-chief of Arabian Woman, hopes the magazine will reflect the attitude and aspirations of women in the region while it informs them on subjects including health, children, fitness and finance. “Arabian Woman will not shy away from tackling serious health or emotional problems faced by women in the region,” Azhar says, “but at the same time we want to provide some light relief, inspiration and, most of all, really good reading material.”

Fire-proof Tent Project at Makkah:

Three-quarters of a planned total of 40,000 fireproof tents have been completed in the Saudi Arabian pilgrimage center Makkah, in preparation for this year’s hajj. Each tent is made of fiber glass covered by Teflon and contains a fire extinguisher and automatic water sprayers to ensure the safety of pilgrims. The tents are also air-conditioned. An integrated fire-fighting network with fire hoses line each street, and there are numerous exit zones to help the movement of firefighters.

Siblings Reunited After 60 Years:

Sixty years after a six-year-old girl named Shiaa was lost in a sandstorm in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia, she was reunited with her brother, Rajih Al-Kuthairi, aged 78, relates Al-Jazeera newspaper in an article quoted by the Arab News. After years of searching, the family almost gave up hope of ever finding Shiaa. However, when Rajih Al-Kuthairi’s daughter, a teacher, moved to the Asir region, a colleague noted her uncanny resemblance to another teacher of about the same age. Soon Al-Kuthairi’s daughter learned that the other teacher’s mother could not recall anything about her family. After several conversations and meetings, it was confirmed that Shiaa, who lived in Taif with her sons, is indeed the missing sister and the long-separated siblings have been reunited.

Kuwait Hopes to Restore Ties:

Kuwait has expressed hope that full diplomatic ties will be restored with Jordan, Yemen, and the Sudan. Kuwait had accused these countries of backing Iraq in the 1990-91 Gulf war, and though they have maintained limited diplomatic presence for administrative purposes, there are no ambassadors. Kuwait also has repeatedly rejected overtures by the Palestinians. Noting in a Khaleej Times article that Kuwait was not a party to the latest standoff between Iraq and the United Nations, Kuwait’s foreign minister called upon Iraq to stop creating problems for the whole world.

Oman Nationalizes Jobs:

In hopes of relying less on an expatriate work force and providing more employment for its growing population, the Omani government has banned expatriates from several jobs. The Social Affairs, Labor and Vocational Affairs Ministry has prohibited expatriates from typing and photocopying jobs, driving school buses or staff transport vehicles, or driving trucks carrying agricultural products. Because of the high birth rate in past years, 50 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 16. The government wants employment available in the private sector for these people as they reach maturity.

Qaboos Sees Growing Role for Women in Government:

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos has set up a new Council of State, or Majlis Addawla, which he describes as a step toward democracy that will encourage people to play a vital part in government. “The Majlis,” Sultan Qaboos said according to the Khaleej Times, “is composed of very experienced and capable persons who can bring their experience to bear on matters raised by the Majlis Ash’shura [consultative council].” He also said he foresaw an increased involvement of women in Oman’s government and noted that the Council of State has four women members who have proved to be an outstanding success. Sultan Qaboos said that if the enthusiasm, energy and capability of women were excluded from a country’s life, it would deprive itself of 50 percent of its genius. “I have taken great care that this should not happen in Oman,” he said.

Qatar To Hold February Elections:

Qatar plans to hold its first municipal elections in February. All Qatari citizens, men and women, over the age of 18 will be entitled to vote. In Kuwait, where free elections are held to elect a parliament, voting is restricted to men.

Qatar Deals With Low Oil Prices:

At the opening of the 4th Gulf Cooperation Council banking conference in Doha, Qatari Finance Minister Yousuf Hussein Kamal warned that nations depending only on oil exports for their national income will continue to suffer as a result of low global oil prices. Asked if taxes would be imposed to compensate for lost revenues, he said there would be no taxation in Qatar for the next decade.

UAE Health Best in Arab World:

The UAE health indicators are the best in the Arab world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Development Program (UNDP). UAE health services and facilities are similar to those in developed countries, thanks to two decades of work to achieve the country’s “Health for All” target, the international agencies report. An initiative to set up health policies and goals for the next century is now underway, the Khaleej Times reports. New strategies may focus on reducing expenditure and introducing a health insurance scheme to promote the private sector in medical services.

UAE Calls for Arab Summits:

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan has called on Arab chiefs of state to hold summit meetings every six months. He said two summits a year are desirable because solidarity and unity are the means to restore the greatness and dignity of the Arab world. The first summit since the Gulf war was in June 1996 in Cairo and it excluded Iraq. At this year’s Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) summit in December in Abu Dhabi, the AGCC leaders scheduled discussions of a long-term strategy for comprehensive development between the years 2000 and 2025. Background for the discussion was the steep drop in oil prices, which is costing AGCC states between 20 and 25 percent of their annual revenues and slowing annual growth rates.

Yemen-Eritrea Dispute Ends:

The Yemeni flag was raised over the island of Greater Hanish Nov. 1, after the peaceful departure of Eritrean troops. An international arbitration panel awarded Yemen this and other disputed islands in the strategic archipelago that controls access to the Bab Al-Mandab Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Similar international arbitration may be the only means to settle a decades-old border dispute between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abdul-Qader Bagammal said recently. Saudi Arabia has said it is not averse to arbitration to end the long-running dispute with Yemen, but it favors resolving the matter through existing joint committees.

Fertile Crescent

Jordan Proud of King’s Peace-Making Role:

Diplomats and officials at the White House signing ceremony for the Wye agreement gave King Hussein a standing ovation for his two personal interventions at Wye Plantation while undergoing treatment for cancer. Soon after Wye, the Jordanian government ordered Hamas supporters living in Jordan to stop talking to the media, the Khaleej Times reports. This is seen as part of a promised crackdown on militant groups. Meanwhile Jordan’s Crown Prince Hassan held talks with Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Korei Nov. 18, to coordinate their positions on Palestinian final-status negotiations with Israel regarding refugees, security, borders and water. Jordan is home to 1.4 million Palestinian refugees, and it controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem until their 1967 capture by Israel.

Lebanese Soil Stolen by Israelis:

The United Nations has confirmed that Israelis have systematically stolen fertile topsoil from an area of south Lebanon under Israeli military occupation. Beirut’s Daily Star first reported on Oct. 26 that Israeli bulldozers were loading rich soil in broad daylight from the al-Marj area near the village of Adaisseh into trucks which transported the soil to Israeli agricultural terraces near Metulla. Between 20 and 30 civilians have used privately owned trucks to remove several truckloads of soil daily. Because the area is in a heavily patrolled occupation zone, and movement across the border is monitored carefully by Israeli occupation forces, Timor Goksel, spokesman for U.N. peacekeeping forces in the area, said it is inconceivable that Israeli troops did not know about the theft. After Israeli government coordinator for south Lebanon Uri Lubrani first dismissed the reports as “nonsense,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron admitted that the accusations are true, and police are now investigating. For many years Lebanon also has accused Israel of stealing its water, and using south Lebanon to test missiles.

Daley Declares Lebanon Open to U.S. Investment:

“After years of civil war that saddened us all, and after American businesses abandoned Lebanon, we can finally say: Lebanon is open for U.S. industry,” U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley declared on a Nov. 13 visit to Beirut. Trade had been interrupted by years of sanctions imposed after anti-American attacks. The U.S. already has become Lebanon’s second-largest trading partner, and Daley’s trip, the first ever by a U.S. commerce secretary, may help fulfill the goal of U.S. businesses to participate in Lebanon’s $18 billion post-war rebuilding program.

Kidnap of Hezbollah Leader Foiled:

An Israeli plan to ambush and kidnap Lebanese Hezbollah leader Nawaf Mussawi was foiled because Mussawi was tipped off and cancelled his planned participation in a rally. The Saudi Gazette reported that in case the kidnap plan failed, the Israelis had placed missiles on surrounding hilltops aimed at the road Mussawi would have used to leave the scene.

Syria Makes Concessions to Turkey:

Syria and Turkey have reached a security accord to end weeks of tension. Syria agreed to ban any activity aimed at Turkey’s security and stability from Syrian territory and to crack down on the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Syria and Lebanon. The two countries also have differences over sharing Euphrates River water and military cooperation between Turkey and Israel. On Nov. 30 Syria held elections for the 250 seats in its People’s Assembly, or parliament. Laborers and other workers will hold 127 of the seats. Representatives are elected for four-year terms.

Iran/Iraq

Iranians Attack American Tourists:

A group chanting “death to America” attacked a vehicle carrying American tourists Nov. 22, the Arab News reported. The Americans’ car was assaulted near the Esteqlal Hotel in northern Tehran and though the car windows were broken, none of the occupants was hurt. A senior Iranian official apologized to the Americans, but they decided to leave Tehran early. The incident occurred after a newspaper charged the visitors were spies seeking political information disguised as tourists. A hard-line Iranian group has threatened suicide attacks against former U.S. Embassy hostages if any of them accept an invitation to visit Iran.

Iran Welcomes British Delegations:

A British energy industry delegation visited Tehran Nov. 13 to discuss potential oil and gas projects. Iran and Britain upgraded diplomatic relations in September, after a religious death sentence against author Salman Rushdie reportedly was revoked. Asian and European energy companies are competing for position in Iran in an $8 billion oil and investment race, the largest energy opening since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran holds the world’s second largest gas reserves and the fifth largest oil reserves.

Police Confiscate Satellite TV Equipment:

Iranian police uncovered 255 banned satellite television receivers hidden in a cargo of tuna tins. Iran banned satellite TV in 1995, blaming it for a Western “cultural invasion,” but many Iranians use satellite dishes camouflaged as air conditioners or other equipment.

U.S. Begins Iran, Iraq Broadcasts:

The United States has begun controversial radio broadcasts to Iran and Iraq, the Khaleej Times reported Nov. 1. The new programs in Farsi and Arabic aim to bring accurate and objective news and commentary to listeners and to promote democratic values. Congress approved funding for both news services in hopes that local news reports, as well as a focus on free speech, human rights and democracy, will give listeners a chance to hear a greater variety of information.

Iraq Faces Rise in Cancer Rates:

Iraqi officials have said that a rising incidence of cancer can be linked to the use of depleted uranium in ammunition fired in southern Iraq by the U.S. and British forces in the 1991 Gulf war. There has been a 20 percent rise in leukemia and other types of cancers there. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that Iraq accept a mission to study radiation levels and find the cause of the high cancer rates.

Sanctions Kill Iraq’s Children:

The U.N. sanctions kill one Iraqi child every nine minutes, the Iraqi newspaper Al Musawir Al Arabi reports. Dennis Halliday, the former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, testified before a congressional hearing that 5,000 to 6,000 Iraqi children are dying every month. According to UNICEF, of 250 people who die every day as a result of the sanctions, 150 are toddlers and infants. The death rate from diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition is staggering, with 128 deaths for every 1,000 children under five years of age. The infant mortality rate is 92.7 for every 1,000 infants born, the Khaleej Times states. The shortage of medicine and food affects the weight of children and newborns. Sanctions do not prohibit medical imports but, with oil exports curtailed, the government cannot pay for necessary medicines.

Iraqi Defector Accuses Uday Hussain:

Iraqi President Saddam Hussain’s son Uday is pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars from a smuggling empire that exports illegal Iraqi oil and brings foreign goods into Iraq, says an Iraqi defector hiding in Europe. Until his defection last spring, Abbas Janabi was the personal secretary to Uday Hussain. In recent interviews published by the London-based Arabic-language Al Hayat newspaper, Janabi described immense profits made by Saddam Hussain, his son and their immediate family as a result of U.N. sanctions. Janabi accuses Uday of building a trade empire that steals and sells much of the food and medical supplies sent to Iraq, distributing only a small fraction of the goods to keep the media hoodwinked. Uday also has a monopoly on cigarettes, whiskey, chemical fertilizer and fuel, Janabi charged, adding that the longer sanctions last, the richer Uday becomes.

Israel/Palestine

Is Israel Developing “Ethno Bomb”?:

The London Sunday Times claimed that Israel is seeking to develop a biological weapon that would harm Arabs but not Jews. Unnamed Israeli military and Western intelligence sources said this weapon would target victims by ethnic origin, sending a bacterium or virus tailor-made to attack those with distinctive genes carried only by Arabs. The newspaper said the research resembles biological studies conducted in apartheid-era South Africa and genetic research experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi scientist at Auschwitz. David Bar-Ilan, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s spokesman, dismissed the story: “The report does not deserve a denial, or any other reaction, except contempt,” Bar-Ilan said.

Supreme Court Protects Baruch Goldstein’s Grave:

Israel’s Supreme Court has forbidden authorities from razing the gravesite of U.S.-born Dr. Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli terrorist who killed 29 Arabs at prayer in what Arabs call the Ibrahimi mosque and Israelis call the Machpelah Cave in Hebron in 1994. The Supreme Court ordered the Central Command and the minister of defense to explain why they should not leave the gravesite and its surrounding garden intact. The site has become a shrine for Israeli extremists.

Israeli Students End Strike:

Israeli university students ended a six-week strike Dec 4, admitting they failed to win their tuition demands. After violent clashes with police, students waged a hunger strike to reduce annual tuition fees by 50 percent from $2,400. National Union of Students chairman Lior Rothbart told the Jerusalem Post, “We led a decent, moderate, fair fight for a just cause, but apparently we were led astray. It appears the prime minister and government only understand force.” Tel Aviv University student leader Erez Eshel told reporters: “This is an obtuse government devoid of values, a government which does not understand the deep social change required to mold a better society and state.”

Council of Jewish Federations Meet:

Rifts that have divided world Jewry for the last 50 years erupted anew when Jewish welfare federations from all over North America convened in Jerusalem for the yearly assembly of their roof organization, the Council of Jewish Federations. An estimated 5,000 Jewish delegates gathered to pledge their commitment to the Jewish state, amid little interest in the Israeli press or general population, TheJewish Week of New York reported Nov. 20. The CJF is about to merge with the United Jewish Appeal, creating an organization with annual revenues of $1.6 billion, and a network of affiliated institutions spending another $3 or $4 billion a year. The new group will become the most powerful body in organized Jewish life. Delegates discussed the changing relationship between Israel and the Diaspora; the current debate regarding the rescue of Jews in Ethiopia (the Israeli government opposes allowing some of the Falash Mura into Israel); and the role of women in Israeli politics. Prime Minister Netanyahu called for mass aliya (immigration of Jews) to the Jewish state, while American federation leaders called for strengthening synagogue-based communities at home.

Jewish Settlers Stockpile Arms:

As Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon called on Jewish settlers to seize as many hilltops as they can, the status of 125,000 acres of West Bank land was changed from “survey land” (uncultivated land that neither Palestinians nor Jews could legally prove was theirs) to “state land” (which can then be allocated for the expansion or creation of settlements). The Saudi Gazette said Palestinian officials condemned the move as the “biggest robbery of the century.” Settlers’ spokesman Shlomo Filber told AFP that “We are calling for each settlement to have its own heliport, and back-up electrical generator, as well as an arsenal of automatic weapons and tear gas.”

Ultra-Orthodox Israelis Rule:

The Modesty Squad is a secret organization that keeps other ultra-Orthodox (haridi) Israelis from straying. A few weeks after seriously beating the former haridi Karni Ben-Zion and some friends, they torched his apartment, Israel’s Ha’aretz reports. Apartments rented by four Christian women also were burned and looted. Last May, after repeated harassment by haridi residents of the Mea She’arim neighborhood, an explosive device was placed on the doorstep of some young Arab women living in Jerusalem’s Musrara neighborhood as the women slept. In the past, the ultra-Orthodox only set fire to advertising posters and threatened businesses, but now they attack and injure Ethiopians, Russians and Arabs, Ha’aretz reported. Orthodox Israelis have requested special municipal buses in Jerusalem to provide women’s seating sections in the rear. These public buses will be segregated by sex, according to New York City’s Jewish paper Forward, to cater to religious women who may feel uncomfortable sitting beside a male and men who may find it offensive to be in close proximity to a woman.

Palestine Gets Own Phone Code:

The Palestinian Authority has obtained an international phone code for the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinian code is now 970 instead of 972, the number it shared with Israel. The Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Posts and Communications said the change in code “carries a deep meaning because it is one of the basic steps on the road to announcing an independent Palestinian State in all areas.”

CIA Warned Arafat About Plots:

Frank Anderson, a former CIA Middle East operations chief, told Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper that the CIA warned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of plots to kill him in the 1970s. At a time when the United States shunned Arafat as a “terrorist,” the CIA had covert contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization starting in 1969. The U.S. hoped to stop international terrorism, while Arafat hoped contact with the CIA would prove a stepping stone to U.S. recognition. The CIA will now play a key role in monitoring Palestinian actions to combat anti-Israel violence.

North Africa

Algerian Soldiers Kill Rebels:

Algerian soldiers shot dead five rebels suspected of killing 26 villagers in the Ain Defla province, 80 miles southwest of Algiers. Authorities said that the rebels, wearing Afghan-style head dresses, had slashed the throats of villagers and wounded others.

Egyptian Copts and Muslims Slam False Report in British Paper:

The Sunday edition of the Daily Telegraph newspaper published a story entitled “Egyptian Police ‘Crucify and Rape’ Christians” by Christina Lamb on Oct. 25, claiming that Egypt’s Coptic Christians had been tortured and brutalized by police. The story says Copts were crucified and tortured, babies were beaten, and girls were raped by security forces during a crackdown in Al-Kosheh, near Luxor in Upper Egypt. Eighty Egyptian Muslims and Coptic Christians have filed a lawsuit against the British newspaper, owned by the same right-wing Hollinger conglomerate that owns Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper. The plaintiffs accuse the paper of “moral prejudice against the people of Egypt and an attempt to sow discord between Muslims and Copts.”

Egypt Exposes 6,400 Graft Cases:

The state-run Administrative Controls Authority announced that 6,400 corruption cases have been uncovered in the last year in Egypt. Only 215 cases will be prosecuted, Arab News reports, and 242 civil servants have been fired, while 695 others accused of corruption have been referred to the prosecutor’s office. This crackdown will help the government recover $330 million in state-owned property, $42 million in cash, and $38 million in equipment.

Growing Popularity in Egypt for “Passers-by Marriage”:

Egyptians are increasingly choosing “passers-by” marriages in which the husband occasionally visits his wife but never stays the night, reports Khaleej Times. This unorthodox type of marriage suits women who enjoy the higher status that comes with being married in Islamic society but whose career makes it hard to spend much time at home. The husband has no financial responsibilities to the wife. This marriage is handy and legal, but many religious leaders do not sanction it. “A normal marriage would have been better but sometimes you don’t have a choice,” says Nahid, a 46-year-old interpreter who has recently formed a passers-by marriage, becoming a second wife to a man she sees several times a week.

Egypt Will Not Export Nile Water:

Responding to reports that Egypt was considering selling Israel water from the Nile, Minister of Hydraulic Resources Muhammad Abu Zeid said, “There are no plans to channel Nile water across the Sinai to the Palestinian territories or any other regional state because there is not enough water.” Egypt will not sell its water, reports the Saudi Gazette, and the purpose of all new Sinai water projects is to reclaim land for agriculture in the Sinai.

Libya Down-Grades Its Arab League Status:

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi told the London Sunday Times that he was anxious to end his confrontation with the West over handing over the Lockerbie, Scotland bombing suspects. Sanctions have had a devastating effect on Libya, which recently announced that it would change its Arab League status from permanent delegation status to the less important resident delegation status. This is seen as another move to play up its African at the expense of its Arab identity, and to relay its disappointment with the lack of Arab support in its latest crisis with the West.

Moroccan Police Disperse Protest:

Nearly 1,000 unemployed graduates demonstrated outside the House of Representatives in Rabat on Oct. 26 to demand their “right to employment.” Police broke up the demonstration, according to the Khaleej Times.

Private U.S. Agency to Compensate Sudan:

AmeriCares, a private U.S. relief agency, has offered to compensate Sudan for “the basic drugs lost in the bombing…through voluntary and health firms operating in Sudan,” the Arab News reports. The Al Shifa pharmaceutical plant destroyed by a U.S. cruise missile attack produced all of Sudan’s veterinary medicine and more than half of the drugs used to treat malaria, diabetes and tuberculosis in Sudan. The U.S. launched the air strike because it believed the plant was a clandestine chemical weapons facility.

Tunisia’s Minister Briefed on Saudi Arabia Organ Transplants:

Tunisia launched a campaign to overcome the shortage of organ donors in November. Tunisian Minister of Health Dr. Al-Hadi Mehani visited the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation (SCOT) in Riyadh to discuss plans to train Tunisian doctors and exchange information and medical expertise. Tunisian doctors have transplanted kidneys, hearts and livers. The first cornea transplants began in Tunisia in 1946. SCOT impressed Dr. Mehani, Arab News concluded, although he was not surprised since Saudi Arabia spends 10 percent of its national budget on health care. Model cooperation between Saudi and Kuwaiti centers already exists. For example, Saudi Arabian doctors recently transplanted two lungs to one Saudi patient, and a heart, kidneys and liver to other Kuwaiti and Saudi patients, all donated by an expatriate who lived in Kuwait.

Turkey and Cyprus

Turkey’s Relations with European Union Thaw:

Turkey has new hope that one day it will be allowed into the European Union (EU) as a result of an EU reportlisting Turkey as one of 12 countries seeking EU membership. The Arab News says the EU report praises the dynamism of Turkey’s private sector and says Turkey has “most of the hallmarks” of a market economy. Eleven months of ill feelings resulted from the EU’s recent stand that Turkey is not economically or politically ready to enter the EU. Turkey has objected to EU demands that Turkey take its territorial disputes with Greece to the International Court of Justice, and also to Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker’s comments that torture was an everyday occurrence in Turkey.

Cyprus Charges Israelis With Spying:

Cyprus police arrested two Israelis, Udi Hargov and Yigal Damary, as they hastily dismantled eavesdropping equipment, and charged them with spying Nov. 7. A seaside apartment rented by the Israelis, near a major Greek Cypriot army camp, contained computer equipment capable of sending encrypted messages; software so high-tech that it was available only to Britain, Israel and the United States; topographical maps of Cyprus; and sophisticated scanners tuned to monitor military and police activities. Cypriot officials believe the men were trying to find out if the radar system for advanced S-300 ground-to-air missiles ordered from Russia had been delivered and if the radar can detect Israeli and Turkish air movements.

The pair had made numerous calls to an intelligence institute based in Tel Aviv, the Arab News reports. Israel’s Foreign Ministry denied the two were spying on Cyprus or working for Turkey, which has close military ties with Israel, but did not comment on whether they are Mossad agents, though the Tel Aviv daily paper Ha’aretz has reported that they are. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed publicly to gain the suspects’ release despite his claim that they were not acting on behalf of Israel. “Every Israeli citizen is important to us. We will look into this and will certainly bring them home,” Netanyahu said on Israel’s Army radio. Mossad’s chief of operations, known publicly as “Y,” has resigned, The Jewish Week of New York reports, after this third botched Israeli spy mission this year.

Turkey and Israel Sign Military Agreements:

Turkey and Israel signed a military agreement to build a new type of ground-to-air missile for $80 billion, the Saudi Gazette reports. The Israeli firm Raphael, which produces Popeye missiles, will work with Turkish firms to manufacture a more sophisticated version of the missile. Discussions continue regarding Turkish participation in a U.S.-Israeli project building Arrow-II air defense missiles. Israel Aircraft Industries has a $70 million contract to update Turkish army aircraft and a $630 million contract to modernize Turkish army fighter-bombers. Syria, Egypt, and Iran have criticized military cooperation between Turkey and Israel.

Turk Fathers 50 Children:

A 78-year-old Turkish man married to four wives is due to become a father for the 50th time. Abdurrahman Atmaca’s children range in ages from a 56-year-old son to six-month-old twins, the Arab News reports, and he has 90 grandchildren. He told well-wishers he wishes there were a school in his mountain village in the eastern Anatolian province of Erzurum “so that all my children could learn to read and write.”

The Subcontinent

Killers of Bangladesh Leader Sentenced:

Fifteen former army officers were sentenced to death by firing squad for killing Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a 1975 military coup. Four men were acquitted of the charges. Only six of the accused were in custody, and Dhaka has asked for Interpol assistance in locating the other fugitives. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the murdered leader, told reporters, “The trial of the killers of the father of the nation in a civil court has proved that the judiciary of the country enjoys full freedom.”

India Purchasing Arms from Israel:

Israel has rejected repeated calls by the U.S. to halt the sale of arms and military know-how to India after sanctions were imposed following India’s nuclear bomb tests, the U.S.-based Defense News reports. Western nations fell in line when Washington applied economic sanctions and an embargo on exporting military equipment to both Pakistan and India, but as one Israeli diplomat said, sanctions don’t hold water in the cutthroat arms market. Israel is to provide India with an advanced phased-array early-warning system called Falcon, ammunition, patrol boats, electronic warfare components for India’s navy, and various upgrades to India’s tanks. Israel is one of the world’s leading arms exporters, according to the London-based Institute for Strategic Studies. Last year Israel’s arms sales totaled more than $1.5 billion, representing 3.3 percent of the world arms market.