Progress in the north

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Look at your demons painting by Silvia Rosenberg, 35x65 cm on paper

The successful exchange yesterday of two bodies of Hezbollah fighters in Israeli hands for a German mediator's visit to Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum in Hezbollah custody, generated optimism about progress for an overall deal that most commentators ascribed to Hezbollah weakness. The Lebanese guerrilla group kidnapped Tannenbam and three soldiers - now presumed dead - shortly after the intifada broke out and had long linked their release to the release of thousands of Palestinians from Israeli custody as well as captured Lebanese. And until Israel was ready for such a deal, Hezbollah refused to allow Red Cross or any other visits to the captured men. The move this week indicates Hezbollah - under pressure or instructions from Damascus and Tehran -- wants the prisoner exchange affair finished and soon. Israeli sources were telling Israel Radio's military reporter this morning that a deal could be done within a couple of months.

Meanwhile, the IDF was laying siege to most of the West Bank's cities and towns, acting on what it called "pinpoint" information about terrorist plots. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was going to Gaza, apparently to meet with Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders but also to follow up on what his security minister, Mohammed Dahlan, has been doing to halt terror activity in Gaza. Very little, say the Israelis about Dahlan's efforts - though the Israelis admit he's doing much more than before. The main effort still remains shutting down smuggling tunnels from Egypt, though Qassams stopped landing in the Negev today. On the other hand, the settlement bloc of Gush Katif, in Gaza, has come under mortar fire from Palestinian neighborhoods not far away.

On the West Bank, Jibril Rajoub confirmed yesterday he was appointed head of Yasser Arafat's National Security Council -- which was not exactly a surprise, even though Arafat fired Rajoub, once considered very close to the CIA and Shin Bet, because Arafat is interested in a counter-weight to Dahlan. Some reports this morning said that Rajoub ordered a "deep inquiry" into the source of Hamas and Islamic Jihad funding. But the Israeli defense establishment, still pretty much in charge of Israeli policy regarding counter-terror, still regards Arafat as the main source of trouble in the territories.

According to the Israeli press this morning, Hamas leaders in both the West Bank and Gaza have gone underground, presumably for fear of Israeli assassinations as part of its "pinpoint prevention" policies. Yet U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice also warned Israel this morning that it also has obligations according to the roadmap - a not very oblique reference to such confidence building measures as removing outposts and freezing settlement construction. Just this morning, the government approved NIS 12.5 million approved for tourism projects in the settlements.

On the legal front, a special, seven-member panel of High Court justices heard the sides today on a petition to have Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi be removed from office due to past questionable behavior. Hanegbi has never been convicted in court but has been implicated in cases ranging from violent attacks on Arab students when he was a student at the Hebrew University, to corruption cases while serving as an MK. His lawyers say that because he was never convicted of any crime, which primae facie would have prevented him from the position as minister in charge of police, the court has no right to intervene. The justices said they would issue their ruling at a later date.

One judicial ruling that is expected and the date is known is the much awaited report by the panel headed by Justice Theodor Or. The 1,000-page report will come out next week with its conclusions on the October 2000 rioting by Arabs and police that broke out after then opposition leader MK Ariel Sharon paid a visit to the Temple Mount to protest then-premier Ehud Barak's readiness to discuss the holy sites in Jerusalem during peace talks with the Palestinians. The report is expected to slam Barak, his police minister at the time, Shlomo Ben-Ami, Arab politicians and most of all the police or rioting that led to the deaths of 12 Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian at police hands.

Also in the news today: Billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is paying a seven-hour visit to Israel to visit terror victims and ride the bus line that was attacked by a Palestinian suicide bomber last week; A group of 14 Israelis on an adventure hike in Kamchatka, believed lost in a snowstorm, contacted home and said they were fine (they were the morning headlines for both tabloids this morning); police are investigating allegedly incendiary anti-Arab leaflets produced by the Kach movement and handed out in synagogues throughout the settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem; and single moms continued their demonstrations for state subsidies, today outside the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where they charged "people are more valuable than paper." The market, in any case, was encouraged by Bank of Israel governor David Klein's decision yesterday to lower interest rates from 7 to 6.5 percent. Israeli inflation for the year is now 0 percent.