Compiled by Parker L. Payson

From the Jewish Press:

Israeli and Palestinian Doctors to the Rescue:

A group of Israeli and Palestinian doctors in February delivered more than a half-ton of powdered milk to a West Bank hospital facing near-critical shortages of baby food during the Israeli curfew imposed on Palestinians at the start of the Gulf war. The donation, which was delivered by the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights, was funded by the New York-based American-Jewish Civil Liberties Coalition. Journalists dispatched by Western news agencies to cover the story were barred from the hospital by Israeli soldiers, who announced a news blackout of the entire Nablus area.

Drug Cartel Contacts no Secret:

A report released in March by the Senate Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations strongly criticized Israel for its role in the training and arming of members of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel by former Israeli Reserve Lt. Col. Yair Klein, the Jewish Week of Queens, NY reported. "Israeli embassy officials knew Yair Klein was operating in Colombia, but no action was taken against him until after reports of his activities surfaced in the media ... Hopefully, Klein's subsequent criminal prosecution and conviction under Israeli law indicate that the Israeli government intends to monitor such activities by its citizens more closely in the future," the report stated. Klein pleaded guilty in January and received a one-year prison sentence for exporting large numbers of Israeli-made Galil and Uzi submachine guns to members of the Medellin drug cartel linked to the assassination of several Colombian politicians and justice ministers.

Economic Reform Nonexistent:

A US economic delegation meeting with Israeli government officials in March warned that Israel had little hope of either financing the absorption of large numbers of Soviet immigrants or weaning itself from US aid unless the government undertakes "drastic measures" to increase competition, loosen up the labor market and reduce public subsidies, the Forward newspaper reported. US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Richard McCormack, leader of the biannual delegation of the Joint Economic Steering Committee, told Israeli Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai that the delegation saw "a picture of confusion, indecisiveness and despair ... [which] sabotages efforts to create an atmosphere of economic stability and to instill in foreign investors the confidence that Israel is on a path of growth."

More Settlements in Occupied Territories:

Two weeks after the US authorized $400 million in housing-loan guarantees to Israel, two opposition members of the Israeli Knesset accused the Likud-led government of violating pledges made to the US prohibiting use of US funds to finance Jewish housing in the occupied territories. According to Eli Ben-Menahem and Charlie Biton, Israel's Housing Minister Ariel Sharon plans to build 24,000 housing units in the occupied territories, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. The US released the housing loan guarantees on Feb. 20, after receiving assurances that Israel would not direct any Jewish "settlers" beyond its 1967 borders and that charges made by two other opposition leaders that Sharon was building 12,000 new housing units on the West Bank were false. One day before the US released the guarantees, the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, composed of 13 US national Jewish agencies and 117 local Jewish community councils, called on the Israeli government to honor the deal by placing a moratorium on Jewish construction in the territories and to end special incentives given to Soviet Jews settling in the occupied territories.

Observers Harassed:

A Chilean relief officer of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which oversees Palestinian refugee projects in the Israeli-occupied territories, and his Palestinian assistant were sworn at by an Israeli soldier, and, when they stopped, were assaulted in the Nur Shams refugee camp in March. An Israeli army spokesperson said the government was investigating the attack, which was the second such incident reported against UNRWA staff members in 10 days. In February, Israeli soldiers on patrol in the Gaza Strip detained and threatened the life of a British member of Parliament and three Scottish trade union officials who were visiting local Palestinian labor leaders. "It is not every day that a British member of Parliament has a gun stuck in his direction and a soldier threatens to kill him," George Gallaway told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "If I were a Palestinian, I might be dead now." Gallaway said the incident indicates "the kind of psychopath who is roaming around the streets of the occupied territories and killing people."

Takeover in Old City:

A group of Orthodox Jewish students from the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva unfurled Israeli flags from two buildings that they occupied in March in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. A Palestinian Muslim claimed ownership of the buildings and filed a court order to evict the group, which claims to have purchased the buildings with funds from Israel's Housing Ministry. Last April, students from the same group moved into St. John's Hospice in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, sparking protests from the Greek Orthodox Church and city officials.

Death Penalty Rejected:

After the Knesset adjourned for a "cooling down" period and one parliament member was ejected, the Israeli government defeated a bill calling for capital punishment for Palestinian "terrorists." According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the bill was not defeated on moral or legal grounds, but because hangings would "encourage acts of desperation." Justice Minister Dan Meridor reported receiving several anonymous death threats because of his opposition to the bill and to another proposal pardoning IDF soldiers accused of killing Palestinians during the early stages of the intifada.

Pro-Israel Fund-raiser Investigated:

The Los Angeles district attorney's office launched an investigation into the political dealings of Carl Rheuban, the chairman of the failed California First Network Savings and Loan, the Forward newspaper reported in March. Rheuban, who reportedly gave over $700,000 to congressional candidates from 1985 to 1989, including $44,000 to Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) and $43,000 to George Mitchell (D-ME), also ran Pacific PAC, a pro-Israel political action committee which, according to Federal Election Committee records, was funded by donations from Rheuban's family and employees. Rheuban's bank also lent $350,000 to Alan Cranston (D-CA), who was censured by the Senate Ethics Committee for his role in the savings-and-loan scandal. According to Cranston, Rheuban, unlike former Lincoln Savings and Loans Chairman Charles Keating, never requested banking favors and only lobbied on behalf of Israel. Roll Call magazine reported that Rheuban was a close associate of Michael Goland. Goland, a California fund-raiser and former AIPAC board member, was convicted twice of illegal election activities, first in the campaign by pro-Israel activists to defeat Sen. Charles Percy (R-IL) and elect Paul Simon (D-IL) in 1984, and later in the campaign to re-elect Sen. Alan Cranston (D-CA) in 1986.

From the Middle East Press:

Lebanon Calls for Withdrawal:

Lebanese President Elias Hrawi appealed to US President George Bush in March to press Israel to withdraw from Southern Lebanon, the Saudi Gazette reported. "My country seeks your continued support as we look forward to an early and comprehensive implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 425 in order to secure the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon," Hrawi wrote Bush. Hrawi's request came in response to Israel's sixth air attack into Lebanese territory this year, following a skirmish between Lebanese troops and members of the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army (SLA). The SLA patrols a six-mile wide, 50-mile long Israeli-declared security zone in Southern Lebanon. Hrawi dispatched the Lebanese Army to Southern Lebanon in February to secure the SLA's withdrawal and disband pro-Iranian and PLO militias. "The army's mission is clear: ensure security in the area, and prevent the firing of rockets or any military activity against Israel from areas under state control," Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Murr said. "These attacks did not liberate the south or Palestine from Israel but instead gave it a pretext to occupy more of our land, and drew Israeli retaliation which destroyed our villages," he added.

Battle Over Kashmir Continues:

Following talks with the Indian government, members of the Jammu and Kashmir Students' Liberation Front released the daughter of a prominent Kashmiri politician, Saifuddi Soz, kidnapped in March, the Saudi Gazette reported. The kidnapping came in response to the Indian parliament's decision to extend direct rule in Kashmir for six months. Violence between Kashmiri separatists and Indian security forces near the Pakistani border has killed an estimated 2,000 people since November 1989.

Jordan Not Guilty:

The US State Department in March rejected reports that Jordan shipped arms and ammunition to Iraq in violation of the UN embargo. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said a US investigation found "no evidence to contradict" Jordan's claim that it had not sent weapons to Iraq since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, the Middle East Times reported. Nevertheless, the US Senate in March voted to suspend aid to Jordan because of its criticism of US policy in the Gulf.

Political Attacks in Turkey:

The Turkish left-wing group Dev-Sol (RevolutionaryLeft) claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of an American businessman in Istanbul in March, marking the third attack on US citizens in Turkey by the group in 1991, the Middle East Times reported. "We have punished one more senior imperialist officer. We will carry on until imperialism gets its hands off the region," an anonymous caller claiming to represent the group said. The caller also claimed responsibility for 16 of 18 bomb attacks since January on Western consulates, airline offices and businesses. Several Dev-Sol members who were imprisoned for the assassination of former Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim in 1980 and who escaped in 1988 were linked with more than a dozen political attacks in 1990.

Iraq Faces Disease:

A team from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned of epidemics of typhoid, cholera and meningitis that could kill tens of thousands in Iraq by the beginning of April, the Saudi Gazette reported. According to UNICEF officials, the supply of potable water in Baghdad has been cut to less than five percent of the pre-war supply. "We came out feeling the country is right on the edge of what could be a catastrophe," UNICEF Regional Director Richard Reid told reporters. "The number of deaths that could result from any of these epidemics could greatly outnumber total battle deaths and civilian casualties," he added.

Tunisian Opposition Arrested:

Leaders of Tunisia's main Islamic opposition group Al Nahda announced the suspension of operations following the arrest of six members of its 10-man executive bureau charged with planning terrorist attacks, the Middle East Times reported in March. The arrests were spearheaded by Tunisia's new Interior Minister Abdallah Kallel, who also serves as the country's defense minister.

OPEC Sets New Limits:

In their first post-war meeting, representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed in March to cut oil production five percent to 22.3 million barrels a day to stabilize oil prices, which fell from $37 a barrel in October to $17 a barrel in March. OPEC ministers, led by Saudi Arabia, rejected calls by Iran and Algeria to reduce oil production sharply, the Middle East Times reported. According to Indonesian Oil Minister Ginanjar Kartasasmita, steep production cuts "would only create apprehension in consuming countries, and people would see us as insensitive just after the war is finished." Under the agreement, Saudi Arabia is to produce just over 8 million barrels a day, compared to its prewar limit of 5.4 million and February output of 8.4 million barrels, and Iran, OPEC's second largest producer, is to produce 3.2 million barrels, roughly equal to its pre-war and February output. No production levels were set for either Iraq or Kuwait, which together produced 4.5 million barrels before the Gulf war.

Libyan Fighters in Kenya:

About 350 Libyans captured during fighting between Libya and Chad during the 1980s were granted asylum in Kenya, the Middle East Times reported in March. The US airlifted the Libyans to Zaire in December 1990 following a coup d'etat in N'Djamena that brought pro-Libyan leader ldriss Deby to power. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi accused the United States of kidnapping the prisoners of war in Chad and training them to overthrow the government in Tripoli. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said a decision to release $5 million of a $15 million military aid package to Kenya, frozen last year because of deteriorating human rights conditions there, was "indirectly" linked to Kenya's decision to grant asylum to the Libyans.

Loan to Saudi Arabia:

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency negotiated a three-year $3.5 billion loan with nine foreign banks to offset cash-flow problems stemming from the Gulf crisis, the CAABU Bulletin reported in March. The deal is the first large-scale foreign loan that Saudi Arabia has ever made. By mid-February the Saudi government had pledged or spent an estimated $48 billion on war costs, the equivalent of 60 percent of the Kingdom's annual gross domestic product and far more than its projected 1991 oil revenues.

Libyan Sanction Renewed:

The US renewed trade sanctions against Libya in February for an additional year, the Middle East Times reported. The sanctions first were imposed by Ronald Reagan in January 1986, following attacks by Libyan backed Palestinian extremists on airports in Rome and Vienna. The sanctions ban all travel to Libya by US citizens and all trade between the two countries. (The CAABU Bulletin reports, however, that in January 1989 the Reagan administration granted permission to five US oil companies, Amerada Hess, Conoco, Marathon, Occidental and W. R. Grace, to sell Libyan oil through non-US subsidiaries to markets outside of the US.) In a related story, the Libyan government announced plans to reopen the Rabta factory, which burned down in 1990, the Libyan News Agency JANA reported. The US claims the factory produced chemical weapons and that the fire was a Libyan hoax to prevent a bombing attack on the facility. The Libyans, however, claim the factory produced pharmaceutical products.