Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July/August 1998, Pages 38-41

Issues in the News

Compiled by Shawn L. Twing

Arabian Peninsula

Arab Oil Reserves 643 Billion Barrels:

Crude oil reserves in the Arab world total more than 643 billion barrels—two-thirds of the world’s total reserves—the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced in May. Saudi Arabia has most of the Arab world’s reserves with 261.5 billion barrels, followed by Iraq (112.5 billion), the United Arab Emirates (98.1 billion), Kuwait (96.5 billion), Libya (45 billion) and Algeria (10 billion). Oman, Yemen, Qatar, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Sudan and Bahrain each have fewer than six billion barrels in reserves.

Bahrain’s Emir Visits United States:

Bahrain’s emir, Sheikh Issa bin Salman Al Khalifa, met with U.S. President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of Defense William Cohen during a June trip to Washington, DC. Bahrain is the headquarters for the U.S. Fifth Fleet in the Gulf. When Iraq refused to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions last November, the United States deployed 40 attack aircraft, including B-1 bombers, to the Gulf island. “Bahrain has been extremely supportive of our deployment in the Gulf,” said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon, “and we expect them to be supportive in the future.”

Kuwait Adopts Economic Reform:

Kuwait finalized a comprehensive economic and political reform package in May that will gradually reduce its budget deficit and begin a rapprochement with countries that supported Iraq during the 1990-91 Gulf war, the German Press Agency reported. The economic reforms fall under seven major categories: restructuring spending chapters in the general budget, boosting privatization, assessing fair value to all state assets, assessing actual costs of public services and utilities, implementing a market economy, restructuring the government’s administrative system and examining the use of subsidies.

The plan also emphasizes an “expanded friendship” campaign to help thaw relations with countries that supported Iraq during its seven-month occupation of Kuwait, including Jordan, Sudan, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority.

Few “Bidoon” Will Qualify for Kuwaiti Citizenship:

Approximately 10 percent of Kuwait’s estimated 120,000 bidoon—stateless residents—will qualify for Kuwaiti citizenship, according to an unnamed member of the government committee examining the issue. In an interview with Kuwait’s Arabic daily newspaper Al-Watan, that official said some 85 percent of the bidoon originally had been citizens of Syria, Iraq and Iran who hid, lost or discarded their passports. Another 5 percent come from other countries. The remaining 10 percent “deserve Kuwaiti nationality,” the official said. Kuwait established a committee in 1995 to classify and register all of Kuwait’s stateless residents.

Oman Reduces Budget Deficit:

Oman reduced its budget deficit by more than 90 percent in 1997 through a combination of increased oil earnings and a moderate increase in state spending, the English-language daily Saudi Gazette reported in May.

Oman slashed its budget deficit 91.8 percent, from an anticipated $685.1 million to $56.4 million, according to the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund. The budget windfall resulted from a combination of factors including a 14.1 percent increase in revenues combined with an 18.8 percent growth in oil export earnings. At the same time, government spending increased by only 1.7 percent, to a total of $5.956 billion. The overall decline in world oil prices was offset by Oman’s production increase from 800,000 to 900,000 barrels per day in 1997.

Oman, Iran to Improve Military Ties:

Oman and Iran plan to strengthen their bilateral military relationship and may hold military maneuvers in the near future, according to an Iranian military commander who visited Oman in May. Iranian Rear Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, toured Omani military facilities, including U.S.-run facilities on the island of Masirah, during a five-day friendship visit, Agence France Presse reported. Oman and Iran each occupy one side of the entrance to the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which the majority of the world’s oil passes by tanker on a daily basis.

Wife of Qatari Ruler Seeks Political Voice for Women:

“The participation of women in political life is not a subject for debate. It’s a legitimate right,” Sheikha Muza Al Mussana, wife of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa Al Thani, told the London-based Arabic daily newspaper Al Hayat in May. “We hope Qatari women will participate actively in political life and prepare to take part in elections,” she said. “To help with this, we have set up a committee tasked with helping women, in coordination with international organizations.” Sheikha Muza acknowledged that “progress cannot take place suddenly” because of centuries of tradition, but added that “he who is committed to his religion and convictions does not fear new ideas.”

Saudi Arabia Opens Middle East’s Largest Dam:

Saudi Arabia opened the largest concrete dam in the Middle East May 9, with an inauguration ceremony attended by Crown Prince Abdullah and several members of the Saudi ruling family, the Jeddah English-language daily Arab News reported. “This achievement was made by the hands and brains of Saudis as the contractors, and all of the engineers were our nationals,” Prince Abdullah said before opening the floodgates on the King Fahddam in Bisha, in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia. “This is a significant achievement,” he said.

Aramco Celebrates 65th Anniversary:

Saudi Aramco celebrated its 65th anniversary May 29, with reflections on the company’s climb from humble beginnings to its current role as the world’s largest petroleum company, the English-language Saudi Gazette reported. Aramco—Arabian American Oil Company—was formed in 1933 when Saudi King Abdul Aziz granted a concession to the Standard Oil Company of California. In 1988 Aramco became the Saudi Arabian Oil Company—Saudi Aramco—employing thousands of people across the globe and exporting hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day.

“From its small beginning, the company has grown into a fully-integrated international oil and gas company, the largest in the world,” a company statement read. “Its operations and products, from the crude and gas that drive factories and transportation worldwide to the products made from them that are used everyday in every corner of the world, affect the lives of people everywhere.”

Saudi Arabia Will Double Gas Output in 5 Years:

Saudi Arabia plans to double its natural gas output from 3.4 billion cubic meters a year to 6.7 billion cubic meters a year by 2003, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali bin Ibrahim Al Naimi said while in the United States for a Saudi Aramco board meeting. Saudi Arabia hopes to use natural gas to meet most of its domestic energy needs in the future, freeing up additional oil for the export market, officials said.

UAE, Iran to Negotiate Status of Gulf Islands:

Iran and the United Arab Emirates agreed to negotiate a peaceful resolution to their territorial dispute over three Gulf islands occupied by Iran since 1971, Agence France Press reported. Following a May visit to the UAE by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, both sides announced positive developments in their continuing dispute over Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs. “[Foreign Minister] Kharrazi had been due to go to Dubai but he left straight for Tehran to inform the leadership of his positive visit to the UAE,” an Iranian diplomat told AFP.

UAE emirates Sharjah and Ras Al-Khaimah claim ownership of the islands, populated by some 700 Arabs. According to U.S. intelligence sources, Iran has fortified the islands with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles.

UAE Divers Find $50,000 Pearl:

Divers found a half-inch diameter, crystal-clear pearl worth more than $50,000 during a May pearl-diving trip off the coast of Abu Dhabi, the UAE English-language daily Khaleej Times reported. Pearl-diving trips are sponsored by the UAE government in an attempt to revive a centuries-old Bedouin tradition that supplied the main source of income for Gulf countries prior to the discovery of oil. The discovery of oil and Japan’s introduction of cultured pearls virtually wiped out pearl-diving.

Clinton Encourages New Yemeni Prime Minister to Continue Reforms:

U.S. President Bill Clinton urged Yemen’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Abdel Karim Al Iriyani to continue his country’s economic reforms in a first-of-its-kind message from a U.S. president to a new Yemeni prime minister. “Your nomination at the head of the Yemeni government is a clear sign that President Ali Abdallah Saleh is determined to continue the democratic process and economic reforms,” Clinton said.

President Saleh appointed Iriyani prime minister one week earlier following the resignation of then-Prime Minister Farajibn Ghanem, who complained that he did not receive the necessary support from Yemen’s president to carry out economic reforms arranged by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Fertile Crescent

King Hussein Expresses Frustration with Netanyahu:

Jordan’s King Hussein has become increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s intransigence with the peace process and has accused Israel of reverting to a fortress mentality, the Saudi Gazette reported in May. Speaking to reporters in Amman after a meeting with visiting Swiss President Flavio Cotti, Hussein said that he was “rather puzzled recently...by contradictory statements by [Netanyahu].” The Jordanian monarch explained that “in one interview [Netanyahu] was suggesting that peace should be between governments and not people...yet he contradicted himself in a later statement saying that peace between governments is just pieces of paper that have no meaning.

“I have never heard of any peace that is meaningful that is not between people,” King Hussein said.

U.N. Reopens Fijian Base in Qana:

Fijian President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara opened a Fijian United Nations base in Qana, southern Lebanon April 30, replacing the base that was destroyed two years earlier by Israeli shelling that killed 105 Lebanese civilians. President Mara also unveiled a plaque honoring the 36 Fijian peacekeepers who have been killed in Lebanon since the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was deployed there after Israel’s invasion in 1978. Attending the event were Lebanese government officials and representatives of the Hezbollah and Amal organizations.

Lebanon Carries Out First Public Executions in 15 Years:

Two men convicted of a grisly double murder were hanged in a public square in Tabarja, Lebanon May 19, the first legal public execution in Lebanon in the last 15 years. Some 1,500 people watched the dawn spectacle where Wissam Nayef Issa, a 25-year-old Lebanese citizen, and Hassan Abu Jabal, a 24-year-old stateless resident, were hanged for the 1995 robbery and murder of Charbel Sakim and his sister Marie. It was the first public execution in Lebanon since the 1994 adoption by parliament of legislation allowing capital punishment. Some 50 human right activists protested the hangings.

Hezbollah Approves Larger U.N. Presence in Lebanon:

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a May 20 interview that Hezbollah favors reinforcing the United Nations presence in southern Lebanon to help speed up an Israeli withdrawal, according to an interview published in the London-based Arabic daily Al Hayat. “Reinforcements of the U.N. blue helmets, whose mandate is to assist the Lebanese Army [in deploying] to the border [with Israel], and setting this deployment in motion in coordination with the United Nations, would be the best formula for applying [U.N. Security Council Resolution] 425,” Nasrallah said. Currently there are more than 5,000 U.N. troops in southern Lebanon, stationed there since the United Nations passed UNSCR 425 20 years ago, which calls for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.

Syrian Delegation Gets Surprise Reception in Ohio:

Members of a delegation of Syrian visitors to the United States were surprised in May when they checked into the Omni Hotel in Cleveland, OH. As a welcoming gesture, staff adorned the hotel’s front entrance with what they thought were Syrian flags. A sharp-eyed Gulf war veteran pointed out that the flags had three stars—which is the Iraqi flag—not the two stars found on Syria’s flag, and the flags were quickly replaced, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

Iran/Iraq

U.S., EU Agree to Waive Sanctions Over Iran Trade:

The United States and the European Union agreed in May to waive sanctions against companies involved in Iran’s $2 billion natural gas project, despite U.S. legislation imposing secondary sanctions against companies investing more than $20 million in Iran’s gas and oil industries. President Clinton announced that he would use his authority as president to waive the provisions of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA), after it was almost universally condemned by EU countries and other members of the international community.

Argentina Arrests Eight Iranians, Expels Seven for Anti-Jewish Bombings:

Argentina arrested eight Iranian residents and expelled seven out of eight Iranian Embassy employees in May for their alleged involvement in two bombings that killed 114 people, The New York Times reported May 17. Argentine Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella told reporters that “potential but very significant evidence” had prompted his government to downgrade its relations with Iran. That evidence reportedly links the 15 Iranians to the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, and the 1994 bombing of the Israel Mutual Association, Buenos Aires’ main Jewish community center.

Iran’s senior diplomat in Argentina, Abdolrajim Sadatifar, denied the allegations and accused the Argentine government of responding to “international pressure” to name Iranian nationals in the terrorist attacks. Tehran also threatened to block more than $600 million in Argentine imports.

Argentine officials were reluctant to provide details of their investigation, but local newspapers reported that government intelligence agents had intercepted incriminating communications linking former Iranian Embassy cultural attach³ Mohsen Rabbani to the bombings. Rabbani left Argentina 10 months earlier and was told never to return, according to The New York Times.

Iran Offers Visiting Expats Exemption from Military Service:

Tehran announced in May that expatriate Iranian men who have not completed their mandatory military service may visit Iran once a year, every year, for up to three months as long as they obtain an exit visa in their Iranian passport. Details can be obtained from Iranian embassies and consulates worldwide, including the interests section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC.

Iraq Demands Compensation for Britain’s Use of Depleted Uranium:

Iraq demanded compensation in May for Britain’s use of depleted uranium tank rounds during the 1990-1991 Gulf war, Reuters news service reported. Following an April 30 confirmation by the British Foreign Office that British forces fired more than 80 depleted uranium tank rounds in Iraq, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Saeed Al Sahaf submitted a letter to the United Nations demanding compensation. “Scientific studies and research have unequivocally shown that the United States and Britain used depleted uranium in their military operations against Iraq, exposing vast areas to fatal radioactive pollution,” the letter read. “A number of diseases, unfamiliar in the past, have been registered [in Iraq], such as fetal and bone deformities and other cases that cannot be explained, such as loss of hair and strange skin diseases,” it said.

Depleted uranium is much heavier than conventional ammunition materials, making it ideal for defeating even the strongest tank armor. Although much less radioactive than uranium, DU can be toxic, particularly after oxidation following shell impact. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark blames depleted uranium for Gulf war syndrome and unexplained health problems in post-Gulf war Iraq.

Thousands Show Support for Khatami on Anniversary:

Tens of thousands of Iranians showed their support for moderate President Mohammed Khatami during May 24 celebrations in Tehran and Isfahan marking Khatami’s first year in office, Agence France Presse reported. Tehran University was the site of one such event, the largest political gathering in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The moderate Iranian newspaper Hamshari said the massive turnout was a clear public endorsement of Khatami’s plans to increase democratization and participation in Iranian government, with an emphasis on the rule of law. Salam, a left-leaning publication, predicted that Khatami would succeed in establishing his reforms, despite mounting tensions with hard-line religious conservatives “who fear that the fundamental principles of the revolution are being undermined.”

Israel/Palestine

U.S. Puts Israel on Copyright Piracy Watch List:

Israel’s Ministry of Trade and Industry protested Israel’s recent inclusion on the U.S. Priority Watch List of countries who violate U.S.-owned intellectual property rights, the Jerusalem Post reported in May. The Watch List includes countries who violate U.S. copyright laws, particularly on computer software and entertainment media. Zohar Peri, director of Israel’s Foreign Trade Administration, told the Post that “it is strange that Israel has been moved onto this list just as it is taking measures to crack down [on piracy].”

First Arab Appointed to Israel’s Supreme Court:

Nazareth District Court Vice President Abdel Rahman Zuabi will become the first Arab appointed to Israel’s Supreme Court, the Jerusalem Post reported in May. Zuabi, a 65-year-old Arab Israeli who has served on the Nazareth District Court bench for 21 years, was given a temporary appointment to Israel’s Supreme Court in May by Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi. Zuabi has represented Israel at international judicial conferences, served as a visiting scholar at American University in Washington, DC, and was one of five members of the Shamgar Commission of Inquiry that examined the 1994 massacre by Baruch Goldstein of 29 Palestinians praying at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, according to the Post.

Israel Attacks Palestinians in Southern Lebanon:

Israeli aircraft attacked a suspected training camp for Palestinian guerrillas in southern Lebanon May 13, killing 10 and wounding more than 20 others, making it the deadliest attack in Lebanon since Israel’s 1996 17-day “Operations Grapes of Wrath” that killed more than 175 people. Representatives of Fatah Uprising, a Syrian-supported Palestinian group opposed to peace with Israel, said six of its fighters were killed during the Israeli attack. The group vowed “to make the enemy pay the price for this callous aggression,” Associated Press reported.

Israel, U.S. Resolve Trade Issues:

U.S. and Israeli officials resolved several outstanding bilateral trade problems following a March visit to Washington, DC by Israel’s Industry and Trade Minister Natan Sharansky. According to the agreements, made public in May by Israel’s Trade Ministry, the United States will exempt Israel’s imports from customs user fees, a privilege the U.S. extends only to Canada and Mexico under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In exchange, Israel will allow the import of American food products that previously had been blocked because of Israel’s insistence on using metric packaging standards. Sharansky said that Israeli companies also will be allowed to keep bidding against American companies for infrastructure projects offered by the U.S. Rural Utilities Service worth “hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to the Jerusalem Post . These contracts are not open to international competition except for Israel, he said.

Mordechai Chooses Mofaz as Chief of Staff:

Israel’s Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai chose Maj. Gen. Shaul Mofaz as Israel’s 16th chief of staff, creating a firestorm of controversy in Israel’s defense community. Iranian-born Mofaz immigrated with his family to Israel in the 1950s from Iran, and has been Mordechai’s personal choice for the second-highest post in the Israeli military. Also competing for the position was Maj. Gen. Matan Vilnai, who had significantly more experience than Mofaz, as well as the support of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but who is a bitter critic of Defense Minister Mordechai. Aside from the personal relationships, there also was speculation that Mordechai, whose family is from northern Iraq, chose Mofaz because he also is of Sephardic Jewish background, unlike Vilnai, who is an Ashkenazi Jew from a well-to-do Jerusalem family.

Peres Says No Peace Without Palestinian State:

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that there will not be peace without a Palestinian state, Associated Press reported. Speaking to the World Affairs Council in Boston, Peres said Israel should be willing to give up more land to achieve peace with the Arabs. “In order for Israel to remain a Jewish state, we need a Palestinian state,” he said. Peres cautioned, however, that these decisions must come from within Israel and cannot come from U.S. ultimatums, a reference to the current impasse in U.S.-Israel relations over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s unwillingness to adhere to agreements made by his predecessors, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, with the Palestinians.

Habash Wants New Palestinian Strategy:

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader George Habash called on all Palestinian factions to meet and devise a new strategy to achieve Palestinian rights, during an exclusive interview with Reuters news service. The physically frail, 71-year-old Syrian-based leftist Palestinian leader told Reuters that “every Palestinian with a minimum level of responsibility must think in terms of having a national dialogue.” That dialogue “must include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Arafat. I demand to have this dialogue out of Palestine. Why not do it in Egypt or Tunisia if Arafat refuses to come to Syria,” he said. The Popular Front was among 10 Palestinian groups that rejected the Oslo accords signed by Israel and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1993.

Palestinian Economy Grew 1 Percent in 1997:

The Palestinian economy grew 1 percent in real terms in 1997, according to a report published in June by the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories. The U.N.’s Report on Economic and Social Conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip said there were 14 percent more Palestinians working in Israel in 1997 than in 1996, construction grew by 10 percent and unemployment dropped from 24 percent, to 21 percent. On the negative side, the report also pointed out that the combination of 1 percent Palestinian economic growth and 4.5 percent population growth means that per capita income actually dropped substantially despite the overall economic gain. Borrowing from commercial banks also increased by 59 percent, to more than half a billion dollars.

North Africa

U.S. Warns Against Travel to Algeria:

The U.S. State Department in May issued a warning to U.S. citizens against traveling to Algeria. “The level of risk for foreigners [in Algeria] is extremely high,” according to the statement. The State Department encouraged Americans who must travel to Algeria to take precautions including avoiding regularly scheduled commercial flights and being met and accompanied by armed guards whenever possible. More than 75,000 people have been killed in Algeria since 1992 when the government canceled elections that the Islamist opposition was poised to win.

Egypt Lifts Ban on 30 Newspapers, Magazines:

Egyptian authorities reversed a March 31 ban on printing 30 newspapers and magazines in Egypt’s duty-free zone following an outpouring of public anger and accusations of censorship. Most of the papers and magazines printed in the duty-free zone are licensed for distribution abroad but printed in Egypt because of lower costs. Following the March 31 decision, Egyptian newspapers and magazines were forced to pay more to print in Lebanon, Malta, Turkey and Cyprus. Hisham Qassem, editor of the bimonthly English-language magazine Cairo Times, said the Egyptian government has created a sense of mistrust among those who were printing and investing money in the zone. It’s “as if they want us to waste money” he told the German Press Agency.

Cairo Population Approaches 15 Million:

The population of Cairo, one of the world’s most crowded cities, has reached 14.9 million, according to an Egyptian Planning Ministry study released in May. Population density has reached more than 6,500 people per square kilometer in an area encompassing 2,273 square kilometers (880 square miles), the report said. The Planning Ministry study also pointed out that the overwhelming majority of Egypt’s population of 64 million is concentrated on only 5.2 percent of the land, mainly along the Nile River and around the Nile River delta.

Egypt Plans to Clean Up the Nile:

Egypt is making an effort to clean up the Nile River by preventing industrial waste from being dumped in or near Egypt’s central waterway, Agence France Presse reported in June. According to pending plans, solid waste disposal facilities will be created in every region of Egypt to handle industrial waste. These facilities will be located far away from the Nile to prevent seepage and other pollution. According to Egypt’s environmental affairs agency, the number of factories dumping waste into the Nile has dropped from 34 in 1994 to 18 today. That number is expected to be reduced to zero by the end of 1998, the agency said.