March 1997,pgs. 30-34

Issues in the News

Compiled by Shawn L. Twing

ARABIAN PENINSULA

Bahrain

Bahrain Pardons Qataris Convicted of Espionage:

The emir of Bahrain, Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, on Dec. 28 pardoned two Qataris convicted of espionage and sentenced to three years in prison one week earlier. According to Bahraini Information Minister Ibrahim Mutawa, Sheikh Isa pardoned the two men to “underline his desire to maintain privileged and brotherly relations between the peoples of Bahrain and Qatar.”

Bahrain to Form National Guard:

Bahrain’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced in December that Bahrain will create a national guard paramilitary force to boost the country’s security, according to reports in Jeddah’s English-language daily Saudi Gazette. Crown Prince Hamad, who also is commander-in-chief of Bahrain’s defense forces, told reporters that the national guard will “strengthen security and stability and…increase safety” for Bahrain’s citizens.

Kuwait

Kuwait Eliminates Arms Middlemen:

Kuwait officials announced on Dec. 15 that the current arrangement allowing arms brokers to negotiate weapons sales between weapons manufacturers and the government has been suspended to cut down on costs. Kuwaiti Defense Minister Sheikh Salem Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah told Kuwait’s official news agency that “the system of brokers in arms and maintenance deals has been cancelled,” adding that the arrangement was “not acceptable.” Kuwait’s parliament has opened several investigations into allegations that some of the middlemen involved in these multibillion-dollar arms sales received enormous commissions.

U.S. Marines Arrive in Kuwait:

More than 300 American Marines arrived in Kuwait Dec. 20 to take part with their Kuwaiti counterparts in military exercises code-named “Eager Mace.” The Marines are part of a 2,000-strong contingent deployed in the Gulf aboard three ships led by the USS Essex. U.S. officials told Agence France Presse that the Marines would train in the Kuwait desert and the Udairi firing range until mid-January.

Oman

Oman Recalls Trade Envoy in Tel Aviv:

Oman recalled its trade representative in Israel in December following an announcement by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Yusef bin Alawi Abdallah that Oman was freezing its normalization of relations with the Jewish state. According to an anonymous Omani diplomat quoted in the Saudi Gazette, trade representative Mohsen Al Balushi was recalled to Muscat because of “Israel’s policy of blocking the peace process.”

Qatar also froze relations with Israel in December because of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s intransigence in negotiations with the Palestinians.

Oman Creates Defense Council:

Sultan Qaboos bin Said issued a decree in December establishing a defense council in Oman which will have among its responsibilities the selection of a successor to the sultan, according to the northern Virginia-based biweekly intelligence journal The Estimate. In addition to Sultan Qaboos, members of the new council will include the minister of palace affairs, the chairman of the office of the supreme commander of the armed forces, the inspector general of police and customs, the chief of staff of the royal armed forces, the commanders of the army, air force and navy, the commander of the sultan’s guards and the head of the Internal Security Agency.

Qatar

GCC Completes Doha Conference:

The Gulf Cooperation Council held its 17th annual meeting in Doha in December with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates gathering to discuss important regional and international issues. During the three-day event the GCC leaders issued communiqués condemning Iran’s continued occupation and militarization of three islands whose ownership is disputed by the UAE, urging the Israeli government to honor peace agreements with the Palestinians, denouncing Israel’s continued occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights and southern Lebanon, and reiterating the GCC’s desire to establish a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. The council’s final communiqué condemned all forms of terrorism and extremism, adding that they should be viewed within an international, not regional, context.

Bahraini Pilot Defects to Qatar:

A member of Bahrain’s ruling family who also is a pilot in Bahrain’s air force defected to Qatar on Dec. 30. Lt. Nasser Majed Nasser Al Khalifa flew his helicopter from Bahrain to Doha’s international airport where he landed and requested political asylum. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced on Dec. 31 that the helicopter would be returned to Bahrain, but that the pilot was free to stay in Qatar or to travel to another destination of his choosing.

Qatar Exports First Gas Shipload:

Qatar exported its first shipload of liquefied natural gas on Dec. 23 when the tanker Al Zabbara left the port of Ras Laffan with 65,000 tons of LNG bound for Japan. The shipment was part of a multi-billion-dollar deal to supply Japan with six million tons of gas during the next 25 years. Qatar’s gas deposits are thought to exceed 7 trillion cubic meters—the third largest reserves in the world behind Russia and Iran. One portion of that total, Qatar’s mammoth North Field, is the single largest natural gas reserve in the world. Exploiting Qatar’s natural gas fields is expected to cost more than $15 billion and will be undertaken by three companies, Qatargas, Rasgas and the Qatar-Enron LNG Marketing Company.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Aramco Ranked First, Again:

Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, was ranked first among the world’s top 100 petroleum companies for the 9th consecutive year by Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. The annual ranking is based on six criteria: oil reserves, natural gas reserves, oil output, gas output, refining capacity and oil sales. Petroleum Intelligence Weekly estimates Saudi Aramco’s sales of refined petroleum products at more than two million barrels daily.

United Arab Emirates:

UAE Building World’s Third Largest Mosque:

Construction of the world’s third largest mosque has begun in Abu Dhabi, according to UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The estimated $400 million project is scheduled to open in three and a half years and will be the world’s third largest after the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Hassan II mosque in Morocco. Its main prayer hall will accommodate more than 7,000 worshippers within an area of 62,000 square meters. Upon completion the mosque will be named after UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Yemen

Yemeni Tribesmen Take Five Hostages, Clash With Security Forces:

Yemenis from the Al Masni tribe took five Polish citizens hostage in December, apparently in a bid to get the government to listen to tribal grievances. According to the English-language daily Arab News of Jeddah, the situation turned violent on Dec. 27, when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at Yemeni soldiers who were surrounding the kidnappers, killing three soldiers and wounding five others. This was the second kidnapping of European tourists in Yemen by the Al Masni tribe this year.

FERTILE CRESCENT

Jordan

U.S. Military Aid Arrives:

Jordan took delivery in December of $100 million in U.S. military aid, the first tranche of a $300 million aid package agreed to by the United States after Jordan signed peace agreements with Israel in October 1994. According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, the shipment contained 18 UH-1H helicopters, 50 M60A3 main battle tanks, 250 trucks, two light transport vehicles, a navy rescue boat, machine guns, and night vision and communications equipment. Remaining equipment, including a C-130 transport/cargo plane and 16 F-16 multi-role aircraft valued at more than $220 million, will be delivered later this year.

Lebanon

Commemorative Medal Issued For Victims of Qana Massacre:

The Central Bank of Lebanon issued a commemorative medal on Dec. 28 for the victims of Israel’s April 18 attack on the U.N. compound in Qana during “Operation Grapes of Wrath” that killed 105 Lebanese civilians and wounded some 100 more. Central Bank officials said revenues from the sale of the medal, which costs approximately $45, will be given to the families of the victims of the Qana attack. On the same day the medal was released for sale, a Lebanese civilian was wounded when an Israeli artillery shell landed in his village of Jabal Al Boton at the border of Israel’s self-declared “security zone.”

Truce Committee Blames Israel for Shelling Lebanese Civilians:

The five-nation committee responsible for monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon announced on Dec. 12 that the Israeli army was responsible for injuring six Lebanese civilians. Following a roadside bomb attack by Hezbollah that killed one Israeli soldier and wounded another inside Israel’s self-declared “security zone,” the Israeli army shelled a Lebanese village with anti-personnel artillery shells. Under terms negotiated following Israel’s 17-day “Operation Grapes of Wrath” last April, targeting civilians is forbidden. The truce committee, comprising France, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and the United States, maintained that “Israeli forces are responsible for their firing procedures,” but the committee stopped short of condemning Israel for the attack.

Turkey

Military Dismisses 58 Suspected Islamists:

Turkey’s Supreme Military Council dismissed 58 government personnel in December for their alleged ties to extreme Islamist parties. Of those dismissed, 28 were officers in Turkey’s military. An additional seven people were relieved of duty for discipline problems, while four more were dismissed for their alleged affiliation with Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The council’s decision was signed by Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, which led to serious criticism from members of his pro-Islamist Welfare Party (Refah), according to Jane’s Defence Weekly.

IRAN/IRAQ

Iran

Iran’s Parliament Allocates $14.3 Million to Counter U.S. “Plots”:

Iran’s parliament (majlis) approved on Jan. 14 a $14.3 million budget to counter American activities against the Islamic republic, according to Reuters news service. This is the second time in two years that the majlis has allocated money specifically to combat U.S. espionage operations. The first allocation in 1995 followed U.S. legislation spearheaded by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) establishing a $20 million fund to be used to destabilize the Iranian regime.

Tribunal Awards U.S. $44 Million:

The Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal awarded the United States $44 million in December for debts owed by Iran from weapons purchases from the United States after World War II. The international tribunal was established in 1981 to mediate disputes between the two countries. The money will be paid from Iranian government assets seized and frozen by the United States after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran Is Ready to Negotiate With the UAE for Disputed Gulf Islands:

Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran is ready to negotiate with the UAE the status of three Gulf islands occupied by Iran since 1971 but whose ownership is claimed by the UAE. During a Dec. 23 interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Ash-sharq Al Awsat, Rafsanjani referred to the three islands—Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs—as Iranian territory but added that the “matter has to be resolved by patient discussions.”

Rafsanjani also commented extensively on Iranian foreign policy and Iran’s ongoing military rearmament campaign. He reiterated that Iran’s increasing military capability is not directed against its neighbors but is intended for self-defense. The Iranian president also denied that Iran seeks to export its Islamic revolution by destabilizing countries in the region, and stated specifically that Iran has had no involvement in problems in neighboring Bahrain. Finally, Rafsanjani condemned terrorism, but added that there are examples of organizations described as terrorist that do not fit that description. The example he provided was the Iranian-supported, Lebanese Shi’i Hezbollah (“Party of God”), which is fighting a protracted guerrilla war against Israel in southern Lebanon.

Iraq

Iraq Refusing to Allow International Inspection of Missile Parts:

In its most recent showdown with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Iraq continued in December and January to refuse to transfer missile parts out of the country for analysis by U.N. investigators. The dispute concerns equipment, including ballistic missile engines, that Iraq reported it had destroyed. Because of repeated Iraqi deception, UNSCOM insisted that it verify Iraqi claims. During the standoff with Iraqi officials, UNSCOM head Rolf Ekeus informed the U.N. Security Council in December that he believes Iraq still has a “missile force of significance.” According to U.N. resolutions, Iraq must destroy all of its weapons of mass destruction before international sanctions resulting from its 1990 invasion of Kuwait are lifted.

Iraq Claims to Have Uncovered American Spy Ring:

Iraqi officials claimed during a Dec. 20 Iraqi television show that they had uncovered a spy ring organized by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Four men, including an officer in the Iraqi army, were said to have admitted spying for the “Iraq Trust group,” a Kurdish organization the Iraqi government claims was established by the CIA in Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Iraq. One of the alleged spys, Saad Daham Awad, said on television that he began a relationship with the CIA by smuggling medicine from Baghdad to northern Iraq and later provided information to the CIA about the Iraqi army.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Palestine

Hebron University Reopened:

Some 1600 students returned to their classes at Hebron University on Dec. 28 after the institution had been closed for 10 months by the Israeli military. University spokesman Nabil Abu Zneid told the Jerusalem-based English-language weekly Jerusalem Times that “everything was restored and functioning” in less than 12 hours. Students, however, were quick to point out that the Israeli military presence remained. One student told the Jerusalem Times that “the traces of the occupation are everywhere.”

Hebron University has been attacked by Jewish settlers and raided by the Israeli military repeatedly. In 1983 one Palestinian student was killed when Jewish settlers entered the campus and began firing automatic weapons toward a crowd of students. The latest military closure that ended Dec. 28 was the result of suicide bombings in Israel in early 1996.

Gaza Airport Ready for Operation:

Palestinian Authority officials announced in December that the runway at Gaza airport was complete and ready for operations, according to the UAE English-language daily Khaleej Times. Palestinian Deputy Minister of Public Works Deifallah Akhras told reporters that “the airport is able to receive any type of airplane, except for the Concorde.” He added that other parts of the airport, including the terminals, administrative offices and control tower would be ready for operation in April.

Negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians concerning the airport’s operations have not been successful, with Israel insisting that it maintain overall security at the $60 million facility. The airport’s maiden flight wasn’t allowed to leave from Gaza, originating instead in Egypt en route to Saudi Arabia.

Israel Attempts to Rebuild Military Outpost in Gaza:

Palestinian police prevented the Israeli military from setting up a telecommunications outpost in Gaza in December in what would have been a clear Israeli violation of the Oslo accords. Palestinian security forces discovered three Israeli military jeeps and two trucks loaded with communications and radar equipment on a site overlooking the road linking Gaza City to the coast. According to agreements signed by the Israeli government and Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat in September 1993, Israeli troops were to redeploy from 70 percent of Gaza without the option to re-establish abandoned military bases in the future or to create new ones. Palestinian police Col. Radwan Abu Qumsan told the Jerusalem Times that “the Israelis arrived without prior coordination with Palestinians,” and that Palestinian security forces “took up positions at the site and forced the Israelis to take the equipment back.”

Palestine Getting Own Phone Code:

The Telecommunications Standardization Bureau told Palestinian officials in December that an international telephone code (970) had been reserved for Palestinian self-rule areas in the West Bank and Gaza. Currently all calls to these areas are routed through Israel’s 972 code. The symbolic gesture, however, remains a provisional decision contingent on pending Israeli and Palestinian agreements on establishing a telephone network in Palestinian Authority-governed areas.

Palestinians Have Highest Birth Rate:

Palestinians have the highest birth rate in the Arab world, according to a Bethlehem University professor who recently completed a comparative study of population increase in the region. Research completed by sociology Prof. Bernard Sabella shows that Palestinian women currently have 7.82 children, compared with an overall average of 5.37 children per woman in the rest of the Arab world. Among the causes of the significantly higher birthrate, according to Sabella, are political tension in the Israeli-occupied territories and low participation by women in the Palestinian workforce.

The current population of Gaza and the West Bank is thought to approach 2.5 million and is expected to reach 3 million by the turn of the century. Professor Sabella urged the Palestinian Authority to begin implementing appropriate policies for what he described as “phenomenal” population growth.

Palestinians Convict Terrorist in West Bank Shootings:

A Palestinian court in Jericho convicted three alleged members of a terrorist organization for the Dec. 11 attack that killed two Israeli settlers, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Itz Tzur, 42, and her son Ephraim, 12, were shot while driving on a West Bank bypass road. Two of the three men sentenced, Abdel Nasser Al Kaisi and Ibrahim Al Kam, were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor for firing on the car. An accomplice, Ibraham Massad, was sentenced to 15 years for driving the getaway vehicle. All three men are thought to be members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group opposed to the current Arab-Israeli peace process.

Israel

Israel’s GSS Urged Removal of Jewish Settlers in Hebron:

Israel’s General Security Service (Shin Bet in Hebrew) urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to remove the estimated 450 Jewish settlers in the center of Hebron due to fears “that settler provocation could lead to bloodshed,” according to the Jerusalem Post. The memo was given to Netanyahu by GSS officials prior to the Jan. 15 Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the status of Hebron. In the past, the Israeli prime minister said that he would not try to remove any of the settlers inside Hebron but would insist that the army be allowed to protect them.

U.S. Establishes Defense “Hotline” With Israel:

Outgoing U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry announced in December that the Pentagon had completed a dedicated “hotline” connecting Israeli and American defense officials. The largely symbolic gesture is designed to give Israel greater access to American defense officials in times of national security crises and to increase the speed of intelligence to Israel from the United States. Shoshana Bryen, director of special projects at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), explained to the New York Jewish Week that “We [the United States] don’t want them [Israel] to have certain intelligence-gathering technology, so we compensate by providing them with quick access to information.”

Four Israelis on Trial for Glorifying Mass Murderer:

The trial of four Israelis charged with inciting racial hatred and glorifying the actions of mass murderer Baruch Goldstein opened in Jerusalem on Dec. 31. The four men recently published a book entitled Baruch, A Real Man, that portrays the Brooklyn, NY-born Jewish West Bank settler as a hero for killing 29 Muslim men and boys at prayer in the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron in February 1994.

Israel Establishes Link to U.S. Missile Warning Satellite Center:

Israel linked up in January with the U.S. missile warning system which will provide Israeli defense officials with early warning in the event of a missile attack. Real-time intelligence data is relayed to Israel from a U.S. satellite in geosynchronous orbit over Iraq via the U.S. early warning center in Colorado. The agreement was made last April by then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, but details were worked out with representatives of Binyamin Netanyahu’s government. The final agreement was signed in Washington in December by Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai.

House Appropriations Committee Visits Israel:

A delegation of members of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, responsible for approving U.S. foreign aid, arrived in Israel Jan. 10 as part of their regional tour of aid-receiving nations. Sonny Callahan (R-AL), chairman of the House subcommittee that writes the foreign aid bills, told Israeli radio that “We are coming to show the prime minister in Israel that he still has the support of the American people and the U.S. Congress.” Callahan has received $33,250 from pro-Israel political action committees in his six terms in Congress.

NILE VALLEY

Egypt

Israeli Drug Conspiracy Reported:

Following December reports in London’s Sunday Times that the Israeli military facillitated the sale of heroin and other drugs to the Egyptian military, Egyptian officials announced that their country had been the victim of a foreign plot to “submerge the country with hallucinogenic” drugs, according to Egyptian Interior Minister Hassan Al Alfi. In interviews with the Sunday Times, eight Israeli army officers said that the Israeli military sold more than 20 tons of hashish to Egyptian soldiers between1967 and the late 1980s in an attempt to undermine the Egyptian military. Two former Egyptian ministers, army Gen. Muhammad Fawzi, who served as defense minister from 1968 to 1971, and his predecessor, Gen. Amin Howeidi, denied the Israeli reports. General Fawzi said the Israelis were “propagating lies…in a campaign aimed at casting doubt over the combat capacity of the Egyptian army.” General Howeidi dismissed the reports as “stupid fiction.”

Mubarak Meets With Israeli “Peace Now” Activists:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with a delegation of Israeli peace activists on Dec. 30 in the midst of a stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over Hebron. Eight Israeli delegates from the “Peace Now” movement met with Mubarak to discuss ways to coordinate peace-seeking organizations in Israel and Egypt. The group’s spokesman, Terzali Rashif, told Agence France Press that “Peace Now” “hopes in particular to build new activities between peace forces in Israel and in the Arab world.” President Mubarak’s senior adviser, Osama El Baz, told reporters that he admired the Israeli delegation’s “moderate position,” but that “Egypt does not intervene in internal Israeli affairs.”

Egyptian Leaders Meet With Sudanese Opposition:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Amr Moussa met separately with two leading Sudanese opposition leaders Dec. 30, despite protests from the government in Khartoum. Former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq Al Mahdi, exiled leader of the opposition Ummah Party who fled to Eritrea in December, met with Foreign Minister Moussa. Mubarak met with Muhammad Osman Al Mirghani, former president of Sudan’s Democratic Unionist Party, who was making his first visit to Egypt since 1987. The Sudanese government said the meetings did not demonstrate “good intentions” toward Khartoum.

Egyptian Stock Market Reached $3.2 Billion in 1996:

The total value of transactions on Egypt’s bourse reached $3.26 billion in 1996, according to Abdel Hamid Ibrahim, chairman of Egypt’s Capital Market Authority. Ibrahim told reporters in Cairo on Jan. 1 that 207.8 million shares were traded in 1996, up from 72.2 million in 1995. He also announced plans by the Egyptian government to issue treasury bonds worth $1.2 billion in 1997, part of Egypt’s continuing privatization campaign that began in 1991.

NORTH AFRICA

Algeria

GIA Threatens France With Terrorism:

Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group (GIA) reportedly sent a letter to French President Jacques Chirac in December warning of continued terrorist attacks against France if a senior GIA leader awaiting execution in Algeria is not freed. If authentic, the letter confirms the GIA’s role in the Dec. 3 rush-hour bombing of a commuter train in Paris, which was similar to a wave of bombings that killed eight people in France last year.

French radio reported that the GIA demanded the release of Abu Adlan Abdelhaq Layada, a leader of the extremist Islamist organization. France’s Interior Ministry responded to the letter in a statement that read: “The government reiterates its condemnation of all forms of terrorism and its determination not to bow to blackmail, fear and violence.”

Libya

Opposition Group Claims Assassination Attempt Against Qaddafi:

Members of Libya’s opposition “Fighting Islamic Group” claimed in December that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi narrowly escaped assassination by one of the group’s members. According to reports in various regional newspapers and The Estimate, “Fighting Islamic Group” member Muhammad Abdullah Al Guryou threw a grenade at Qaddafi on Nov. 23 but the grenade did not explode. Al Guryou was taken into custody by Libyan security forces and, according to some sources, a colleague with a second grenade also was taken into custody.

Eight Executed for Spying for U.S.:

Libyan authorities executed eight people—two civilians and six senior military officers—on Jan. 2 after they were convicted on charges of spying for the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Libya’s High Military Court upheld a lower court’s espionage charges against the men, who were arrested in 1994. Libyan television showed an anonymous accuser who claimed that the defendants used “sophisticated equipment” provided by the CIA, according to Agence France Presse. The six officers were shot and the two civilians were hanged.

Morocco

Moroccan Elected OIC Chief:

Former Moroccan Prime Minister Ezzeddine Laraki was elected to a four-year term as secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Dec. 11, according to the English-language daily Saudi Gazette. Laraki replaced outgoing OIC Secretary-General Hamid Al Gabid of Nigeria, who described his successor as a “prestigious Islamic figure.” The former Moroccan prime minister was appointed to that post by King Hassan II in 1986, and since 1995 has held the top post at Akhawayn University in Ifrane.

Tunisia

Tunisia Frees Opposition Leaders:

Tunisian authorities announced Dec. 30 that two former opposition leaders had been freed from jail for “humanitarian reasons.” Mohamed Mo’ada, former leader of the secular Movement of Democratic Socialists, and human rights activist Khemais Chammari were freed after more than a year in prison. Mo’ada had been sentenced to 11 years for having had contact with suspected Libyan agents, and Chammari was given five years for leaking information about Mo’ada’s case.

Ben Ali Proposes Constitutional Changes:

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali announced in December several proposals for changing Tunisia’s constitution. Among the proposals was a national referendum to ban political parties based on racial, regional or religious loyalties, which would formalize an existing law passed in 1988. Other proposals included decreasing the age requirment for members of parliament from 25 to 23, and limiting parties to no more than 80 percent of the seats on municipal councils. Another proposed law affirming Tunisia’s absolute gender equality would allow persons born of a Tunisian mother to run for parliament. The current law states that only those born of a Tunisian father can run for office.