Friday, February 13, 2009

Document Blunder Expose: Praise for Corrupt PA Official

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129784

(IsraelNN.com) (Third in a series)

An inside look at the documents that the United States Consulate in Jerusalem accidentally included in the auction sale of file cabinets to a Jerusalem woman reveals two decades of American efforts to create a setting for a new Arab country in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Paula (last name withheld from publication) discovered the documents after she bought approximately two dozen file cabinets three years ago for NIS 166 ($42) plus tax. She returned the documents to the American government but only after making sure that the blunder was reported in American media in an effort to prevent it from happening again.
A first-hand look by Israel National News at some of the thousands of documents reveals that as far back as 1985, the U.S. government openly tried to win over Palestinian Authority Arabs as part of covert and overt efforts to undermine the Israeli development of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

A June, 1985 letter from the U.S. Information Services (USIS) to the late U.S. Information Agency (USIA) chief Charles Wick, includes the statement, "The United States does enjoy extraordinary close relations with Israel but there are real differences between our countries on issues concerning the occupied territories and Jerusalem."

The American government pumped millions of dollars into cultural exchange programs, Fulbright scholarships and even promoted overseas meetings between the Likud and Fatah party youth movements to try to pave the way to meet Arab demands that the Jewish State return to the 1949 Armistice Line, also known as the Green Line.

The single-minded aim of the USIS and the casual acceptance of terrorist attacks that literally blew up the Oslo peace process were clear in a memo that noted, "A bright spot in the otherwise downhill side of the peace process was an unusual meeting between Likud and Fatah youth leaders in Israel in mid-July [1998]. A follow-up meeting in Ramallah...had to be cancelled because of the [suicide] bombing in Jerusalem."

Worries over Netanyahu

Many of the documents were dated in the late 1990s, during the Oslo II talks, and they expose the American worry over Binyamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister following the general elections in 1996.

One of hundreds of programs to promote Arab activities was a $298,531 proposal by the Harvard University in 1996 for a "joint working group on Israel-Palestinian relations [to] help the official process."

Harvard justified the proposal to a receptive USIA by stating, "Despite the breakthrough characters of the mutual recognition that led to the Oslo agreements…there is no certainty that the process will fulfill itself as Israel's election results will make clear. The Likud party won on a platform that clearly reversed policies adopted by the previous Labor government."

USIA documents reveal hundreds of scholarships, programs and lectures aimed at bolstering the Palestinian Authority, which then was headed by Yasser Arafat.

One document from the USIS includes a raving commendation to help PA security official Haj Ismail Jabber, "who has played and will continue to play a key political and security role in the West Bank" and was commander of the Palestinian Authority police in Jericho in 1996.

It continued, "He has an "unwavering commitment to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s agreements with Israel. Haj Ismail ranks as one of those most trusted if not the most trusted by Yasir [sic] Arafat."

However, five years ago, Jabber, who then was the commander of all PA national security forces, was caught pocketing monthly salaries of 7,000 fictitious troops, netting him about $2 million a month.

Many of the USIA documents disclose programs to arrange PA-controlled television interviews with visiting American university academics in an effort to promote popular support for the Arafat regime. The U.S. government also scheduled a gala event for 100 invitees to attend an American-sponsored performance by classical guitarist Jose Passalacqua in 1995.

Other programs included a United States-Palestinian Legal export Exchange program in Gaza City and Ramallah in 1996 "to strengthen the Palestinian Authority legal system."

An example of the pro-Arab groups that received aid is the pro-Arab Quaker Information and Legal Aid Center in Jerusalem. Fulbright scholarships also were plentiful for Arab teachers and professors as well as for teaching seminars in European vacation spots.

Hevron College assistant professor Dr. Ibrahim Alamasri was granted $25,500 for a stay at Indiana University and then requested airfare for his 11-year-old daughter. An American university assistant professor won an award worth $37,520 for a stay at the Bir Zeit University in Ramallah along with a $5,300 a month stipend.

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Document Expose: US Paid $185,000 to Promote Likud-Fatah Parley

February 7, 2009
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129809


(IsraelNN.com) Documents found in the bungled United States Consulate auction sale reveal a mammoth American effort for an overseas tour of Likud and Fatah youth leaders in 1997-1998 while the Fatah-led Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades terrorist group carried out a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem.

The Americans paid out more than $185,000 for the tours, which included trips to Cyprus and the United States, complete with meetings with senior Congressmen and provisions for enjoying the World Cup on television.

Ten years later, the American government still is trying to promote joint meetings. Last December, ACYPL hosted six young PA leaders - without a Jewish party - in Washington for a 10-day State Department-funded program "following Phase I of the Likud-Fatah dialogue."

The U.S. Information Agency (USIA) in 1997 requested the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) to manage the project "to foster personal relationships between emerging leaders in the Likud and Fatah political parties." Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister at the time.

American officials engineered the event despite protests from Likud officials that it directly intervened in Israel's political affairs and that it worked around Likud opposition to the event's taking place outside Israel.

A USIA document shows how the Americans pressed ahead with the program despite objections from Likud Youth Wing leader Gilad Erdan, now a Likud Knesset Member.

In April 1998, a USIA document states, "Arden [sic] said it would be a big problem to move ahead on this seminar…We then discusses the situation with Arden's predecessor [Uri Aloni who] felt strongly that his response should not be permitted to derail the overall initiative."
All six of the Fatah participants had been imprisoned from two to eight years for links with terrorist attacks on Israelis. The USIS pointed out that ineligibility should be waived for one of the participants because "no one was hurt" in his firebombing attacks although a judge had stated, "It was only luck that no one hurt."
All six of the Fatah participants had been imprisoned from two to eight years for links with terrorist attacks on Israelis.

The USIA reported in a document that the Fatah-Likud dialogue in Cyprus in November, 1997 evolved into a "heated and emotional debate [that] nearly derailed the program." The background of the dispute was the Oslo talks and Arab suicide bombings.

The USIA concluded that the dialogue was "an overwhelming success" because both sides showed more willingness to listen to each other.
The July 1998 meetings in the U.S. covered two weeks in Washington, Chicago and New York, including a visit to the home of then-Congressmen Bill Black, where everyone could watch together the World Cup matches. They also visited the White House, the Holocaust Museum and the Arab-American Institute lobby group.

The Fatah Youth Organization presented itself as a "social and revolutionary mass movement …fighting against the Israeli occupation and organizing the youth in activities that benefit them and the whole society."

The series of dialogues included a meeting in Ramallah, which was called off due to a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

Erdan complained at the time to then-American Ambassador that the Jerusalem Consulate intervened in Likud's affairs.

"The consul assured me that the program would be frozen for the moment" because of the event's taking place outside of the U.S. Erdan wrote. "To my astonishment, I learned…that your Embassy has arranged travel to the U.S…. Young Likud protests strongly against this deliberate intrusion by the Consulate into the internal affairs of the Likud."

The document in the auctioned file cabinet reveals the American government's attitude. "We don't think this story has any leg," according to a memo written to the USIS.
Ma'ariv reported at the time that American officials said that invitations to the Likud leaders "were extended on a personal rather than an institutional basis."

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