(Your Voice in a World where Zionism, Steel, and Fire have
turned Justice Mute)

Below you shall find an English translation of the story from the Beirut daily "as-Safir", of December 4, 2002, on the recent appointment of Elliot Abrams as Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs in the National Security Council. In that post he will be directly in charge of the Palestinian-"Israeli" "peace process" among other things.

Arabic readers are aware of some of the background to issues raised in this article, but these things might not be so familiar to western readers. So here are a few "footnotes".

Abrams considers the Oslo Accords and former "Israeli" Prime Minister Barak's "peace efforts" at Camp David with then US President Bill Clinton to have constituted threats to "Israeli" security.

In fact, the Oslo Accords, far from harming "Israeli" security, provided for breaking up what few territories that the Palestinians would "get back" from the Zionist occupation (under the auspices of the so-called peace process) into small, isolated cantons, each surrounded by the "Israeli" military and under constant threat of reoccupation as has in fact occurred this year.

Barak's "peace efforts" consisted of little more than offering the Palestinians a small amount of the land to which they were already entitled under the Oslo Accords, in return for a Palestinian acceptance of permanent "Israeli" control of Jerusalem and an abandonment of other Palestinian rights, especially the right of return.

Abrams exonerates Sharon and the "Israeli" military for their role in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and the notorious Sabra and Shatila massacres, maintaining that Lebanese Maronite militia, and not "Israeli" forces, did the killing. Yet as all Arab readers of the report from Assafir below know, Sharon's forces surrounded the two Palestinian camps, whose fighters had already been evacuated, and watched as their Maronite militia clients massacred (and raped) Palestinian women, children, and elderly for more than two straight days. Sharon's men even used flares to light up the night for the killers.

Appointing Abrams, by any definition a Zionist extremist, to a post responsible for the "peace process" shows clearly just what kind of "peace" Washington has in mind.

The Free Arab Voice

As-Safir, Beirut, Wednesday, 4 December 2002.

Washington - The worst man in the worst place: Elliot Abrams put in charge of the Middle East in the US National Security Council.

By Hisham Milhem

Translated into English by Muhammad Abu Nasr

Yesterday the White House announced the appointment of Elliot Abrams as Senior Director of the department for Near East and North African Affairs in the National Security Council, in a new confirmation of the growth of the extreme rightwing, pro-Israel line in the American government. The appointment was also another indication of the George Bush Administration?s inclination to re-appoint some of the most controversial political personalities who were responsible for serious scandals such as "Iran-Contra" and who did not shy away from misleading the American people and Congress. Abrams, who served in the Administration of Ronald Reagan, is among them.

With the appointment of Abrams to this sensitive post, the activities of the elements within the current US government - in particular those occupying sensitive positions in the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney and the Department of Defense - who support the hardline Israeli Likud Party have been strengthened. Abrams is regarded as one of the most prominent supporters of the extremist Likud line and in particular the line of Ariel Sharon. He is known for his criticism of moderate Jewish currents in America, of the Israeli Labour Party, and of what he calls the "Barak experience" and its efforts to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians. He is also famous for his scorn of the supporters of the "peace process" and for his criticisms even of the Oslo Accords.

Abrams was appointed in June 2001 to the National Security Council as the Senior Director of the Office of "Democracy, Human Rights, and International Operations." During his period of service in the Reagan Administration Abrams described himself as a "fighter" for the Reagan Doctrine in Central America ? a doctrine predicated upon giving support to military regimes and supplying arms to organizations like the Contras in Nicaragua (something that Congress had made illegal) as they waged a fierce war against the leftist regime of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua ? activities that involved brazen violations of human rights. In 1991 it became known that Abrams had mislead the Congress on two occasions in the course of public testimony that he gave in 1986 concerning his knowledge of and involvement in the matter of illegally supplying arms to the Contras. He also concealed from the Congress information about his role in obtaining $10 million from the Sultan of Brunei to be given to the Contras. Abrams had met the Sultan in London in 1986 under an assumed name. Had it not been for the intervention of President George Bush (senior) who issued a Presidential Pardon on Christmas night of 1992 ? that is, just days before the end of his term ? Abrams would have been sent to prison for his violations of the law. Abrams was also known for the severity of his criticism of those who cast doubt on Reagan?s policies, whom he called "serpents."

After his appointment in 2001, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer described Abrams?s controversial role in the Iran-Contra scandal as "a matter of the past." But Abrams' unsavory history and record were not discussed in Congress at that time and will not be discussed now because these posts in the National Security Council do not require specific Congressional confirmation. During sessions of the investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal, Abrams was subjected to intense criticism. At one point Democratic Senator Thomas Eagleton said that Abrams' testimony almost made him puke. For his part, retired Admiral and former diplomat, William Crowe described Abrams as a "snake who is hard to kill."

Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser, announced the appointment of Abrams to his new post on Monday night. The position had previously been occupied by Zalmay Khalilzad, originally from Afghanistan, who has been moved, as a part of an effort to reorganize the National Security Council, to the position of President Bush's special envoy to the "Free Iraqis." This was yet another indication of the Bush Administration's determination to strengthen its relations with the Iraqi opposition in preparation for the expected confrontation with the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Abrams, in his new post, will be responsible for the Middle East "peace process" and American policy in the Gulf. He will be assisted in this job by Flynt Leverett, who is described as being "on detail from the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.)," who will be directly responsible for the issue of the Arab-Israeli Conflict under Abrams? supervision.

Abrams, 55 years old, is regarded as one of the most prominent stars of the rightist pro-Israel current that emerged towards the end of the 1970s as a response to the moderate policies of former President Jimmy Carter. Other representatives of this right-wing, pro-Israeli element are Richard Perle, Jean Kirkpatrick, Frank Gaffney, and others who have organized themselves in groups like the "Committee on the Present Danger" and the "Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)" - organizations that are dedicated to supporting the American strategic alliance with Israel.

Abrams has published a number of studies and books, including "Faith and fear: why American Jews fear religion?and why only religion can save them," in which he called upon Jews to safeguard Judaism in America by focusing on Jewish religious practice and not on their blood ties. Abrams is regarded as one of the most prominent advocates of the establishment of "alliances with Evangelical Americans, the Christian group that most intensely supports Israel," as he said in an article that he wrote after the election of President Bush. On the other hand, Abrams leveled harsh criticism of other Christian churches that dared in his opinion to criticize Israeli treatment of the Palestinians or that support the Palestinians? right to independence.

Abrams criticized the policies of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in withdrawing from Lebanon and during the negotiations in Camp David with the Palestinians. He believed that Barak?s policies were a threat to the security of Israel. Abrams hailed the election of Sharon, considering it a rejection of the Barak line and a victory for Israeli democracy and for the concept of security through strength. Abrams has chided Americans who criticize Israel, saying that they forget that it is the "only democracy" in the Middle East, surrounded by "gangland activities." Abrams called on American Jews to arise from their slumber after a decade of dreaming - a reference to the decade of the 1990s after the conclusion of the Oslo Accords - so that they might "face the fact" that the Palestinian leadership does not want peace with Israel, and so that they might understand that "peace will never happen."

Abrams castigated American Jewish leaders who continue to call for peace and agreements with the Palestinians, demanding that they "stop calling for negotiations, and instead put forward a simpler and less costly option (for Israel) namely: solidarity and support." Abrams added in an article that he published shortly after Sharon?s election victory that "years of American pressure on Israel that have coincided with winking in Arafat?s direction, and ignoring (Palestinian) violations of the agreements that they have signed, must come to an end."

Abrams defended Sharon and his role during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, pointing out that the Maronite Christian militias were the ones that carried out the massacres as Sabra and Shatila, not the Israeli troops under Sharon?s orders. Noting that Sharon had resigned after the Israeli investigations into his 1982 role, Abrams compared Sharon to Winston Churchill. Britons, he said, turned to Churchill when they sought to confront Hitler, despite the military disaster that Churchill had caused in the First World War when he tried to seize the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey in 1915. Abrams said that Sharon had saved Israel as Churchill had saved Britain.

This is the record of the man whom President George Bush has chosen to supervise the "peace process" between Israel and the Arabs.