Your Voice in a World where Zionism, Steel, and Fire, have Turned Justice Mute
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Trouble on the Western Front
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The *FREE ARAB VOICE* December 31'st, 1997 Merry X-mas, Happy New Year, and a blessed Ramadan everyone :) In this issue of the Free Arab Voice we present: 1) Netanyahu's Statement on West Bank IS in the Spirit of Oslo: an article by Yasser Zaatrah 2) Tunisian Regime to Upgrade Ties with 'Israel', Violating Consensus, by the Free Arab Voice 3) Targeting Egypt via Sudan: On Albright's African Tour by Munir Shafeeq 4) Spain Annexes Moroccan Territories by Khaled Issa 5) Action Alert: Let's Publicize and Condemn the Criminal Consequences of Sanctions against Libya- Lift the Sanctions Now. ############################################################### For back issues of the Free Arab Voice and relevant articles, please go to: *AL-MOHARER AL-AUSTRALI* (Arabic/English) ############################################################### 1) Netanyahu's Statement on West Bank IS in the Spirit of Oslo: an article by Yasser Zaatreh We really need to ask the fellow Palestinians who signed or supported the Oslo Agreement, many of whom were enraged over Netanyahu's pre-emptive proclamation that the West Bank is an integral part of 'Israel', since when self-autonomy as a concept began to imply the independence of the self-autonomous territory from the state which granted it!! Doesn't self-autonomy by definition merely involve the management of inhabitants, not the land they inhabit? We should ask those who signed or supported Oslo exactly where in the Agreement does it say 'withdrawal'? Isn't the exact term used 'redeployment'? If the text of the Oslo Agreement grants no sovereignty on land but refers rather to the administration of the locals, what's so odd about Netanyahu handing over to the so-called Palestinian National Authority (PNA) only heavily populated Palestinian areas leaving for his Jewish settlers all else?! Let's face it: when the researcher Israel Shahak commented four years ago that Oslo is not in substance any different from the formula of the collaborationist Village Associations (Rawabitt Al-Qurra) that 'Israel' tried to impose on Palestinians in the seventies, he wasn't too far off the mark. That's why Netanyahu's stonewalling doesn't really top off that of Shimon Perez. Both stalled for time to build or expand settlements. The same thing goes for the proportion of lands in which the Israeli Army will be redeployed. As long as it's not heavily populated with Palestinians, its size will increase or decrease depending on Israeli mood, which is in turn allegedly determined by security considerations which the Oslo Agreement gave priority to. But then the supporters of Oslo might object that the questions of sovereignty, settlements, borders, Jerusalem, and refugees were all left to the negotiations on final status. In fact that is not even denied by Netanyahu. The real question though is whether leaving the door open for further negotiations will necessarily mean that their outcome will be dictated by Arafat, not the physical balance of forces on the ground which tends to favor the Israeli leadership. Why won't those who signed that vague and loose agreement on our behalf ask themselves what guarantees they got for attaining sovereignty, Jerusalem, or other demands in the negotiations for final status? What are the actual pressures that will come to bear on the Israeli leadership to cause it to respond to those demands, especially that the Palestinian demands at stake are more or less the locus of a consensus among different Israeli political shades, where the differences among those shades have to do not with principle, but the format of the self-autonomy that will alleviate the burden of managing the Palestinians. Finally we should question the current PLO leadership about what it has now that can guarantee even the implementation of Oslo, or lesser still, an effective response to Netanyahu's program. If the answer is 'nothing', then perhaps it's time for the PLO leadership to heed the advice of its Political Officer, Farouq Al-Qadoumi, to head right back to Tunisia... ####################################################### 2) Tunisian Regime to Upgrade Ties with 'Israel' Not even three days had passed since the Islamic Conference in Tehran came to an end when Tunisian authorities submitted a sudden REQUEST to the Israeli Foreign Ministry to upgrade the level of diplomatic representation between the two regimes. In Tehran, Arab leaders seemed to have reached, after protracted chaos, a minimum level of understanding on how to handle Israeli intransigence, and total disregard for Arab and Muslim feelings by continuing to confiscate Arab lands and to Judaize Islamic holy sites for example. Then the Zionist penetration played out from Tunisia with the purpose of breaking the consensus that emerged in the Islamic Conference in Iran. To add insult to injury the Tunisian authorities resolved to settle the Israeli delegation in Tunisia in permanent premises after letting it operate out of temporary headquarters from a hotel in the capital Tunis. Thus instead of moving towards freezing all trade and economic ties, and halting the circus of normalization with 'Israel', the Tunisian regime selected the opportunistic low road in the hope of cashing in on the new general Arab and Islamic resolve to withstand pro-Zionist U.S. pressure for unconditional capitulation before Netanyahu. However the gamble will backfire, and the Tunisian regime will be weakened as it exposes itself to the possible risk of at least some Arab and Islamic isolation. But then again it might be counting on the political support of Nato troops, but that is an entirely different ball game (which we tackle in a related article below). The Free Arab Voice ####################################################### 3) Targeting Egypt via Sudan: On Albright's African Tour by Munir Shafeeq Albright's bold statements after her meeting with Jon Garang and four of his entourage at the helm of the movement to secede the Sudanese south, pulled aside that fake cloak with which the U.S. Administration used to sheath its policies in the region of the African Great Lakes, towards rebellion in southern Sudan, and in the way of inciting neighboring states to war against the state of Sudan. Albright exposed it all this time: her cards as well as those of many regional co-conspirators hellbent with the U.S. Administration and the Mosaad upon breaking up Sudan, controlling the lifeline of the Nile, and setting up in the capital Khartoum a pro-western puppet regime. Unashamedly Albright voiced support for the separatist rebellion in southern Sudan while calling out to the Sudanese opposition to pull its ranks together- behind Zionist and U.S. strategy -of course- to launch a military offensive and resort to all available means to clinch power in Khartoum. That is of course an overt interference in Sudan's internal affairs, a blunt call to resort to violence and terrorism, and an undisputable effort to divide up the sovereign state of Sudan. But these policies and practices contradict sharply the principles of international law and the codes of international relations. Yet their active adoption by the U.S. government leaves no room for any doubt that the justifications it furnished for its pro-Zionist Mideast policies, especially those ostensibly based on protecting human rights, defending international legitimacy, or stopping Mideast violence, are nothing but a fine collection of quintessential lies. Here the question arises as to the particular timing Albright chose to drop the fig leaf instead of going on with the traditional game of conducting U.S. policy from behind ornate charades. Interestingly enough, Albright's tour occurred right after the government in Khartoum almost concluded a peace deal with Jon Garang, which she had already thwarted while in the final phases. More importantly however, her tour came on the heels of a drastic improvement in Egyptian-Sudanese relations and Sudanese government calls for a major and effective Egyptian role in the mediation to resolve the south Sudanese problem. This means that the nervous and outlandish moves Albright ventured in her African tour may have been directed at Egyptian-Sudanese relations. More to the point, they targeted Egypt and its Arab, Sudanese, and African roles as much as they targeted Sudan and its regime, territorial integrity, identity, and future. Predictably U.S.-Israeli strategy always moved to isolate Sudan from Egypt, wreaking havoc between the two Arab and Islamic neighboring states whenever possible. The same strategy consistently sought to tear up Sudan to pieces and to place a client regime in Khartoum to complete the process of suffocating and besieging Egypt as the cornerstone of the colonial strategy to implode and subdue the whole Arab landscape to total U.S.-Israeli control. Swallowing up Sudan thus becomes the natural complement to the military siege from the side of the Gulf, the Turkish-Israeli pact from the side of the Syrian north, in addition to the military presence borne out by the Jewish state in Palestine. On the western front, the Spanish Al Mondo revealed in December a secret document in which the U.S-led Nato alliance endorsed the formation of a force of 50-thousand strong, to be headquartered in Spain, for speedy military intervention in the western states of the Arab Maghreb likeMorocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Then after all that we still manage to find some Arabs among us whose feelings actually get hurt upon hearing any criticism of the U.S. government!! ####################################################### 4) Spain Annexes Moroccan Territories by Khaled Issa Nato's recently unveiled plans to interfere militarily if need be in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, with a force of 50-thousand to be headquartered in Spain prepared especially for that purpose, coincided with a Spanish declaration formally announcing the annexation to Spain of the Spanish-occupied Moroccan cities of Sabtah and Mlilah, as well as the [British] colony of Gibraltar and the Khaldat Islands. In what might sound like an Arabian broken record, this reflects Spain's total disregard for the agreements for cooperation and good neighborly relations signed between Madrid and Rabat in 1991. But that should make us all wonder how come 'Israel' and the west find it so easy to habitually violate our rights and sovereignty in spite of our willingness to sign treaties giving away plenty of concessions and to abandon rights by the dozen.. Hasn't the time come for us to try a different approach? ####################################################### 5) Action Alert: Let's Publicize and Condemn the Criminal Consequences of Sanctions against Libya- Lift the Sanctions NOW Libyan financial losses from sanctions imposed since 1992 have reached $24 billion according to an official report published by the Popular Committee for Abroad Communications (the equivalent of the Libyan Foreign Ministry). The report points out that the energy, manufacturing and agricultural sectors were especially hard-hit due to lack of spare parts or raw materials. The resulting economic suffering of the Libyan people has been enormous. For example, as a result of the sanctions regime, Libyan Airlines have been grounded with hundreds of related jobs lost, in addition to isolation from the outside world. More importantly, the report indicates death rates have increased due to the deterioration in the health sector. And because no flights are allowed into or out of Libya, most of the seventeen thousand medical cases that required some kind of treatment abroad simply DIED. Hence in spite of resolutions to lift the sanctions on Libya by the Arab League, most recently by the Islamic Conference, they remain in place as an inhumane tool of collective punishment and a ruthless weapon of mass-destruction. Let's give this issue its fair share of activist attention in Letters to editors, articles, petitions, and speeches, even daily conversation.. Let's not join in the criminal silence shrouding the use of this weapon of death and destruction against the Libyan people. Lift the sanctions against Libya NOW. ####################################################### Correction: On Tuesday, 16 December 1997, David McLau wrote us concerning the article on the Jewish Khazars by Tawfic Abdul-Fattah in the last issue of the Free Arab Voice : That was good but just to be academically correct, you should have added the following phrase : The Story of the non-Semitic Jews by Tawfic Abdul-Fattah, as based upon the book review by Grace Halsell, as appeared in The Washington Report For Middle East Affairs, June 1991 of the book,The Thirteenth Tribe -The Khazar Empire and Its Heritage, by Arthur Koestler. Random House, 1976. 256 pp. List: $9.95; AET: $7.95 for one, $9.95 for two. For more info on Khazars. The Khazar Heritage! The Khazaria Info Center ################################################################### The Free Arab Voice welcomes your comments and accepts submissions at the email addresses below and above. We can help you publicize your events and activities (on the house) if you support Arab and Palestinian causes. You can also use those same email addresses if you wish us to quit sending our messages to you. Also email us if interested in receiving back issues of the Free Arab Voice, such as the Special Issue on Iraq, the Special Issue on Syria, the Issue on the Jerusalem Bombing, or the Declaration of Principles (DOP)... |
FAV Editor: | Ibrahim Alloush | Editor@freearabvoice.org |
Co-editors: | Nabila Harb | Harb@freearabvoice.org |
Muhammad Abu Nasr | Nasr@freearabvoice.org |
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