November/December 1993, Page 22

Issues in the News

Compiled by Greg Noakes

From the Israeli and U.S. Jewish Press:

U.N. Prize for Peace Pact:

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awarded its annual Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat for the recent Israel-PLO peace accord. Norwegian Foreign Minister Johan Jorgen Holst, the accord's key mediator, was a special guest at the ceremony to announce the $143,000 award, which is named for the president of the Cote d'Ivoire. Currently neither the United States nor Great Britain is a member of UNESCO, each having withdrawn in the mid-1980s to protest the organization's alleged anti-Israel bias, the Jerusalem Post noted.

Yemeni Jewish Absorption Problems:

Protests and scattered violence by Yemeni Jewish immigrants to Israel at the Oshiyot Absorption Center in Rehovot have prompted calls by Jewish Agency officials to overhaul the absorption process. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that Yemeni immigrants blocked traffic near the center and attacked a reporter and a photographer covering the incident, then broke the hand of a policeman who tried to break up the altercation. Two of the Yemeni Jews taken into police custody explained that they were simply trying to prevent the desecration of the Sabbath. A Jewish Agency spokesman said tension was high after Israeli teenagers rode motorcycles near the absorption center, adding that when the immigrants "were in Yemen, the Arabs knew it was their Sabbath and did not disrupt it, and they didn't see why it should be disrupted in a Jewish country."

Vatican Nears Normalization of Relations with Israel:

The Queens (NY) Jewish Week reports that Israeli and Vatican negotiating teams finished 14 months of talks by producing a 14-point agenda for the normalization of relations between the two states. Among the agenda's provisions, according to the report, is the assurance that the Catholic Church will take a stand against anti-Semitism. Israeli Foreign Ministry sources acknowledged the agreement but said the process of normalization would be gradual. In a further sign of closer relations, Pope John Paul II met in Rome with Israel's chief Ashkenazi rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau, in the first such meeting since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Jordan Seeking Air Routes:

Jordanian officials, using French airline officials as intermediaries, have asked Israel to permit Royal Jordanian Airlines planes to fly over Israeli airspace, thus cutting flight times to Europe. The National Jewish Post & Opinion said the request also proposed Israeli-Jordanian cooperation in the creation of a regional air charter service linking Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Amman and the ancient Jordanian city of Petra designed to encourage tourism in the two countries.

Rush Limbaugh in Israel:

After making his first visit to Israel, conservative radio and television personality Rush Limbaugh said he had a better understanding of the country, according to the Detroit Jewish News. Limbaugh, accompanied on the visit by Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, met with leading politicians in both the Labor and Likud parties and toured Israel Defense Force bases during his trip. "I've met people who have shaped events for the good of civilization, people motivated by goodness and passion," Limbaugh said.

Britain, PLO Enter Intelligence Agreement:

British authorities will help the Palestine Liberation Organization establish an intelligence service and anti-terrorist force to counter any violent opposition to the recent Israel-PLO accord, the Jerusalem Post reports. The agreement was reached during secret meetings involving British Minister of State Douglas Hogg, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin, and PLO representatives Nabil Shaath and Faisal Husseini.

Dinosaurs and Dairy Don't Mix:

The Agudat Yisrael kashrut department is threatening to withdraw its kashrut, or kosher, certification from Tara dairy products if the Israeli company continues to use dinosaur pictures and stickers in its packaging. Rabbi Zvi Gafner, the manager of the kashrut authority, said, " Dinosaurs are a symbol of heresy, while our kashrut certificate symbolizes faith. The two symbols are incompatible on the same product. " The rabbi said many Orthodox parents were upset when their children began to collect the stickers and become interested in dinosaurs, presenting a problem since the creatures are believed to be " 100 million years old, while we believe God created the world 5,753 years ago. " In response to the Agudat Yisrael threat, the Hemdat Council for Freedom of Science, Religion and Culture called on secular Israelis to boycott food companies that " surrender to the whims " of the various kashrut supervisory departments, according to the Queens Jewish Week.

Schumer, ADL Object to Library of Congress Report:

The Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service (CRS) has withdrawn and is revising a report on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in response to pressure from Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. The original May 14 report, named "Hamas: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists?" was removed from circulation by CRS officials who said "an update and revision of the report on Hamas is currently nearing completion, " according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Pro-Israel activists were upset that the report used the term "occupied Palestine," questioned Hamas' alleged responsibility for attacks on Israeli civilian targets and stated, "There is some validity to Hamas' position" that " it is fighting to free the 'Palestinian homeland' under the provisions of Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter." Ironically, the report prepared by James P. Wooten of the CRS' Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division made extensive use of written material from Israel and the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy. CRS director Joseph Ross wrote Schumer that "developments have occurred since the report was issued and new facts have come to our attention. The title has been changed. "

Making the Sea Bloom?:

Israel's Technion scientific institute and the Israel Electric Company are planning to construct an island off the coast of Tel Aviv similar to Davis Island near Tampa, Florida, according to the National Jewish Post Opinion. The project will cost an estimated $400-600 million, but planners estimate the island's economic potential at over $2 billion. The two organizations point out that land along the coast is already being overtaxed and that the situation will worsen as the area's population expands. Planners are hoping for private investment, though they say that the employment opportunities produced by the island's construction would have a nationwide impact.

Israeli Orchestra Vetoes India Visit:

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra canceled its proposed tour of India to protest the Indian government's request to delete the word "Jerusalem" from the group's name, according to the Jerusalem Post. The orchestra was asked by the Indian Center for Cultural Relations to give concerts in New Delhi and Bombay, but was then told by the Indian government that it would not sponsor the trip unless the group changed its name. Indian officials cited the dispute over the legal and political status of Jerusalem as the reason for their request. The orchestra's executive board voted to cancel the tour, noting that the Delhi government's political intervention contradicted cultural agreements between Israel and India.

ICI Memo Backs Boycott:

An internal memo from the legal affairs department of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) demonstrates the British chemical giant's compliance with the Arab League boycott of Israel, according to the London Jewish Chronicle. The memo states that any dealings by the firm with Israel should be reviewed by the legal department "to ensure that they comply with ICI policies and rules on the Arab boycott" and referred to "recent ICI undertakings to the [Arab League] Boycott Office not to support the Israeli war effort and not to import raw materials from Israel. " Unlike the U. S., there is no law in Britain forbidding participation by British companies in the Arab boycott of Israel.

ADL Chiefs Press for Pollard Release:

Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman and ADL National Chairman Melvin Salberg have written President Bill Clinton asking him to commute the life sentence of Jonathan Jay Pollard, convicted of spying on the U.S. for Israel. The two men wrote their letters as individuals rather than organization officials, they said, since the ADL has yet to announce its support for Pollard's release. The Detroit Jewish News said the letters reflect growing support for the convicted U.S. Navy analyst among the mainstream American Jewish leadership. The American Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee called for a presidential review of the Pollard case last year. Clinton has said he will "give consideration to all the relevant facts in order to make a fair and just determination" after he receives a Justice Department recommendation on the case. Clinton promised to review the Pollard brief during last year's presidential campaign.

Tel Aviv Boasts Biggest Bus Station:

Tel Aviv's newly opened central bus station is the world's largest, according to the Jerusalem Post, claiming the title from New York's Port Authority facility. The new station boasts a large shopping mall which is attracting crowds, but nearby residents vow to launch demonstrations protesting the noise and pollution the station has brought to their neighborhood.

From the Middle Eastern Press:

Hariri Resignation Threat Averted:

Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam has defused a political crisis that led Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to threaten to resign. Khaddam at first met separately with Hariri, Lebanese President Elias Hrawi and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, then brought the three men together for dinner. According to the independent An Nahar, Khaddam told the three that "the Hariri government will remain until the end of the mandate" of President Hrawi, whose term expires in 1995. Syria maintains some 35,000 soldiers in Lebanon, and is a key political force in the neighboring country.

Allied Ships Simulate Sinking Iranian Subs:

U.S., British and French warships conducted three days of exercises which simulated the hunting and destroying of Iran's new submarine forces, according to Vice Admiral Douglas Katz of the U. S. Naval Forces Central Command. "By improving our skills in locating and attacking submarines in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, we can further our ability to counter a growing concern in the region—Iran's Kilo submarines," Katz said. Iran has taken delivery of two Kilo-class subs from Russia, according to the Saudi Gazette, and is to acquire a third in the near future.

Arab League Announces 22nd Member:

The League of Arab States has accepted the Indian Ocean nation of the Comoros Islands as its 22nd member, the Middle East News Agency reports. The Comoros, officially known as the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, first applied for membership in the League after its independence from France in 1975, but was not considered because of a lack of information on the islands. The request was repeated and accepted this year. The Comoros, located north of Madagascar and east of Mozambique, have 500,000 inhabitants. With few natural resources and a per capita annual income of $320, the group of three islands remains heavily dependent on foreign aid. The country's population is 98 percent Muslim, speaks French, Arabic, Malagasy and/or a Swahili dialect, and is composed of a variety of ethnic groups.

French Say Libya Targeted Mitterand:

The French conservative daily Le Figaro, in a response picked up by the Arab press, alleges that Libya planned to assassinate French President Francois Mitterand during a state visit to the Central African Republic in 1984. The alleged plot was broken up by Central African authorities who later gave details of the plan to the French government. Libyan intelligence allegedly recruited an assassin from the Central African Republic's opposition movement who later confessed to authorities. Le Figaro said the plot implicated a number of high-level Libyan officials.

Malaysians Boycott U.S. Goods:

The Malaysian Action Front (MAF), a politically broad-based grouping of 50 nongovernmental organizations comprising some two million members, has called for a boycott of U.S. goods and products to protest against "American domination of the world, " according to Bernama, Malaysia's national news agency. MAF official Anuar Tahir said the boycott targets fast food chains, oil companies, soft drink producers, cigarette manufacturers and others, and argued that Malaysian government broadcasters should stop importing violent American films and cartoons. "These products symbolize American culture and U.S. political imperialism," Tahir said, adding that posters and pamphlets announcing the boycott were being distributed throughout the country. The U.S. is the largest foreign investor in Malaysia as well as the biggest market for Malaysian exports.

Algeria Expects Locust Invasion:

Teams of experts fanned out across southern Algeria to stave off an expected invasion of locusts from the south, according to the daily El Watan. Nomads across the border in northern Niger and Mali have reported huge locust swarms in those regions, while Algerian officials said 700,000 liters of pesticide had been dispatched to the south with a further 1.3 million liters available for spraying by light planes and helicopters. North Africa is already suffering severe cereal shortages due to drought, and the U. N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned that locust migration from eastern Africa into Chad, Niger and Mali could reach plague proportions.

Factories Closed Near Taj Mahal:

India's Supreme Court ordered the closure of 212 factories in the Agra area which have ignored anti-pollution warnings and are causing the decay and discoloration of the Taj Mahal. The Saudi Gazette reports that the closures will leave thousands without jobs, though the factories may appeal if they install emissions reduction equipment. Industrial emissions from Agra's oil refineries and chemical, leather and glass factories are corroding and yellowing the architectural gem's white marble, according to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). While industrial pollution poses the biggest threat to the mausoleum, the ASI also warned against the Indian Tourist Ministry's proposal to fence off the Taj Mahal and scrub it clean with chemicals, arguing that constant washing would further corrode the marble and rust metal clamps which hold the slabs together. The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world, was built in the mid-17th century by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and attracts some 15,000 tourists daily.

Right Will Form New Moroccan Government:

Conservative parties will again form Morocco's new government after their overwhelming success in indirect elections, according to the Maghreb Arab Press news service. The indirect elections by regional councils, professional groups and trade unions are responsible for a third of the Moroccan parliament's 333 seats. The right's strong showing in indirect balloting was in contrast to earlier direct balloting, which was won by a bloc of opposition parties that received only 16 seats in the indirect voting. Interior Minister Driss Basri said the opposition's defeat was the result of the influence of regions, tribes and professions on voting patterns which led to "surprising" and exaggerated results in direct balloting.

Iranian Prosecutor's Suicide:

Mohsen Khodaverdi, the chief prosecutor at a revolutionary court in Rasht in northern Iran, shot himself in the chest after leaving behind a letter denouncing other officials, according to the Iranian daily Salam. In his suicide note Khodaverdi detailed the "wrongdoings" of a number of judiciary officials, urged Iranian officials to investigate and vowed he would confront those responsible on ''the Day of Judgment. " Government spokespeople declined to respond to either the suicide or the note. Iran's revolutionary courts were set up after 1979 to try collaborators with the regime of Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, but later were used for political and drug-related cases.

Israel Producing Chemical Weapons:

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (RFIS) claims Israel has been producing chemical weapons since the mid- 1 960s and is "capable of producing toxic substances of all types, including nerve-paralyzing, blister producing and temporarily incapacitating substances. " The report said Israel now has a large stockpile of chemical weapons and that "large-scale [military] research is unceasing in Israel in the sphere of the synthesis of new physiologically active substances." Britain's CAABU Bulletin notes that the report "is bound to embarrass Israel, which has been pressing Arab states to abandon their chemical weapons programs" and which recently signed the Chemical Weapons Convention barring the production, stockpiling and use of poison gases.

Camel Cheese a Reality:

French enzymologist Jean-Paul Ramet recently won the Phillip Morris Scientific Prize for successfully turning camel's milk into cheese, according to the Tunisia News. While camel's milk is often consumed by nomads as a drink or as butter, turning it into cheese was previously impossible because the animal's milk doesn't coagulate. Ramet's research on camel's milk collected in Tunisia, Niger, Somalia and Saudi Arabia demonstrated that by adding casein, calcium salts and a coagulating enzyme, a variety of cheeses could be produced. After large-scale production trials Ramet is now working on a kit to enable small scale family production of camel cheese.

SLA Chief Seeking Asylum?:

Beirut's As-Safir reports that General Antoine Lahad, commander of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA), may have asked France for political asylum in addition to his request for an entry visa to join his family in Paris. A "Western source" told the paper that the asylum request has strained relations between Lahad and his Israeli sponsors. The general "may have realized that any settlement in southern Lebanon would put an end to his activities," the source said. Lahad's 2,500-member SLA operates in Israel's self-declared "security zone" in south Lebanon.

Bangladesh Takes India Dispute to U.N.:

Bangladesh's ruling Bangladeshi Nationalist Party has authorized Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to raise with the United Nations the country's dispute with India over sharing the waters of the Ganges River. According to the Saudi Gazette, the Delhi government is currently unilaterally drawing water from the Ganges in the absence of an agreement to replace the pact scrapped by former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1988. India views the dispute as a bilateral issue, while Bangladesh is seeking to bring international pressure to bear on India's "intransigence."

Moroccan Plants Plagued by Power Cuts:

Moroccan factories are facing drastic power cuts as two years of drought take their effect on the country's hydroelectric power stations. The state Office National d'Electricite said that Morocco's reservoirs were nine-tenths empty and that while domestic electrical service is unaffected, several hundred factories in the Casablanca region are affected by the mandatory cuts. Industrialists report that they have had to lay off staff, cut back on work hours and even close plants because of the lack of electrical power. La Vie Economique suggested that instituting "daylight savings time" would help alleviate the problem in the summer months when the water shortage is most critical. Morocco presently stays on Greenwich Mean Time all year long.

A Million More Egyptians:

Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reports the country's population of 59 million increases by one every 26 seconds, meaning 1.1 million more Egyptians for 1993. Al-Ahram quoted the report as saying that Egypt's growth rate has slowed to 2.3 percent from 1989's 2.7 percent due to family planning programs. The U. N. predicts Egypt's population will hit 100 million in the year 2020. The CAPMAS report also noted that 2.5 million Egyptians live abroad.

Iran Aids Azeri Refugees:

The Iranian Red Crescent is helping to erect camps for 200,000 Azeri refugees just inside the Azeri border, according to the Iranian Hamshahri newspaper. The 50,000 four-man tents and educational, health and other services are being set up following a request for assistance from Baku to Tehran. The refugees are fleeing from the Armenian military offensive in southwestern Azerbaijan.

Pollution Poisons UAE Fish:

Pollution off the coast of Abu Dhabi is responsible for the poisoning of fish, according to the semi-official Emirates News, and residents and fishermen are being warned of possible health hazards to humans. Traces of mercury, arsenic, lead and cadmium were found in dead fish, though the source of the toxic pollution was uncertain. Fish stocks have been removed from the market, fishermen are being asked to stop all operations, and consumers have been warned of the situation, the report said. "The danger is that some of the dead fish could have been eaten by other fish, which makes them unfit for human consumption, " one official said. He added that authorities were monitoring drinking water as well, since over 70 percent of the United Arab Emirates' water comes from the sea after being desalinized.

FIS Names New Leadership:

Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which was banned by the military regime in March 1992, announced a new leadership-in-exile by naming Rabah Kebir as the party's external president. Kebir, formerly the party's official spokesman, has applied for political asylum in Germany and is wanted by authorities in Algeria for alleged attacks last year, according to the Saudi Gazette. Other members of the external FIS leadership include Kamar Eddine Kherbane, who reportedly has close links to armed militants operating inside Algeria, Anwar Haddam, an elected member of parliament from the western city of Tlemcen, and Abdallah Abbas. The new leadership includes "all forces and possibilities of the FIS," the party announced.

Nubians Demand Billions in Reparations:

The Supreme Council of Nubian People is set to demand $90 billion from Britain in compensation for that country's colonial rule of the Sudan, and will ask for $60 billion from the U. S. government as reparations for the slave trade, according to As-Sudan Al-Hadith. The non-governmental council will present a memorandum outlining its demands to the Organization of African Unity and various human rights groups, the report said. The council said the money would be put to use in development projects like roads, schools and hospitals.

Arafat, Israelis Set to Meet Six Years Ago:

Mahmoud AWas, also known as Abu Mazen, told Tunis' As-Sabah that Israeli officials were set to meet with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in 1987 until an Israeli newspaper broke the story. Abbas, who signed the recent Israel/PLO peace accord in Washington, said three months of Israeli-Palestinian contacts began when Sari Nusseibeh met with former Likud politician Moshe Amirav, who was eventually expelled from the party over the contacts. Faisal Husseini joined Nusseibeh and Amirav in the talks, followed by Likud leaders Ehud Olmert, Dan Meridor and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. The Israelis were set to meet with Arafat in September 1987 until the Israeli daily Al Hamishmar publicized the meetings. "At the time Yitzhak Rabin was defense minister," Abbas said, "and he imprisoned Faisal Husseini, hit Ein al-Hilweh camp [inside Lebanon] and made the negotiations fail."

Oman-India Pipeline Planned:

India's oil minister says technical studies to choose a route for a planned Oman-India natural gas pipeline will be completed by year's end, according to the Saudi Gazette. Satish Sharma said two routes were being studied. A pipeline along the continental shelf off Pakistan and Iran is feasible, but a possible deep sea route would be shorter and more economical. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for the project last March.

Mutually Beneficial Embargo Busting:

Libya and Serbia, both laboring under United Nations embargoes, have entered an airplane maintenance agreement involving Libyan airliners and Serbian technicians. Thirty employees of the Serbian airline Yugoslovenski Aerotransport (formerly JAT Yugoslav Airlines) are in Tripoli servicing Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA) Boeing 727 aircrah, replacing French technicians. Although the U.N. sanctions prohibit air traffic in and out of Libya, LAA is still operating domestic air service. The sanctions against Tripoli also "prohibit, by their nationals or from their territory . . . the provision of engineering and maintenance servicing of Libyan aircrah. " As for Serbia, the U.N. has barred countries from any commercial transactions with Belgrade. The CAABU Bulletin notes that while Libya, as a U.N. member, is bound to honor the blockade against Serbia, Belgrade may be under no similar obligation vis-a-vis Libya, since Serbia is not a member of the United Nations. The Bulletin quotes one expert as saying, "The increasing number of countries now facing international sanctions are bound to realize their common interest and collaborate to defeat their effect. There is little that the international community can do in response."

Updated Uzbek Alphabet:

Uzbekistan will adopt the Turkish form of the Latin alphabet and discontinue its present Cyrillic script over the next seven years, according to the Saudi Gazette. The Uzbek parliament voted 400 to 6 with 21 abstentions to ratify the change, which "will bring Uzbekistan closer to European culture and facilitate its entry into the world market, " according to President Islam Karimov.

Islamic Economics Doctorate Considered:

Riyadh's Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University may launch a new doctorate program in Islamic economics, according to the Middle East Economic Digest. Although the university already offers bachelor's and master's degrees in the field, Saudis wishing to pursue a Ph.D. in Islamic economics currently must study outside the Kingdom.

Tangier Tapped for Transmitter:

The Voice of America (VOA) will open the " newest and the most modern relay station in the world" near Tangier on the northern Moroccan coast, the Tunisia News reports. The $225 million station will be equipped with 21 high-frequency antennas and 50 staff members. It is designed to receive programs from the VOA's transmitter in North Carolina and rebroadcast them to the Middle East, South and West Africa, Central Asia and the Slavic states of the former Soviet Union. VOA has some 13 relay stations positioned worldwide.

Carpets Big Business in Iran:

Almost one in seven Iranians earns his or her living by producing or selling Persian carpets, according to the Tehran Times. Eight million Iranians, out of the country's population of 60 million, are involved in the carpet trade, with some two million of them working as weavers. The daily called for the establishment of a central carpets authority to foster the industry's development and improve the working conditions of weavers in rural areas.

Indian MP Warns Against Ayodhya Temple:

Indian Member of Parliament and head of the Janata Dal Party Syed Shahabuddin warned against any Indian government plans to permit the construction of a temple on a disputed site in the town of Ayodhya, according to the Saudi Gazette. Shahabuddin said the construction of a temple to Ram, a Hindu deity, would be illegal if it took place on the former site of the Babri Masjid, which was demolished by militant Hindu activists a year ago. India's Muslims, he said, demand the restoration of the mosque and the return of the land to Muslim ownership, or a moratorium on any building on the property until the matter is adjudicated by the Indian Supreme Court.