Terror Groups in Damascus Have No Fear

Palestinian terrorists in Damascus used to meet in secret, so as not to embarrass their Syrian hosts. Today, they held a much-publicized "conference," attended also by Syrian officials, in which calls were made to step up violence against not only Israel but Americans.

Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mish'al reportedly said, "I call for the pursuit of popular anger against the Zionists and the Americans until the blockade is lifted." Mish'al was referring to Israel's closure of its borders with Gaza after an increase in rocket attacks against southern Israel.

The fact that Syria not only allowed the conference but also attended is a reminder of how far Damascus must come before any lasting peace with Israel is achieved, and how fruitless and premature would be any Israeli concessions, or talk of concessions. Also, the explicit threat not only to Israel but to the United States must not go unchallenged. The United States should call for the UN Security Council to rebuke Syria for allowing organizations it shelters to call for violence against Americans. If the Syrian government continues to allow such gatherings, then the United States and Israel should use their intelligence-gathering capabilities to identify, track, and capture or kill terrorists who attend such meetings.

AP Presses Palestinian Agenda

Veteran AP reporter Mohammed Daraghmeh continues, in his reporting, to seek to advance the Palestinian cause -- this time, to ensure that Western audiences view the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the most positive light. Daraghmeh has found a PA official to public claim that some 300 Palestinian militants of the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have "turned in" their weapons.

"...more than 300 Al Aqsa gunmen have surrendered their weapons to Palestinian authorities and pledged to refrain from violence, said a senior Palestinian security official.... The official said 25 gunmen from Islamic Jihad also signed the pledge and handed in their guns, defying the group's leaders....

Unmentioned is that many of those al-Aqsa gunmen probably continue to moonlight in the PA's security services and have access to weapons there and that other weapons will soon be easily replaced owning to the illegal weapons trade.

Daraghmeh also reports that Israeli officials could not confirm the Palestinian claims but also did not express doubt about them. One wonders how many "officials" he asked, whether they are at all representative of the Israeli government's assessment, and why, after nearly seven years of fighting, could there not be any doubt as to the PA's claims. Surely, with no precedent for militants voluntarily giving up weapons, some Israeli officials are questioning whether in fact this, now, has occurred.

According to Daraghmeh, a Hamas legislator claimed that "more than 400 Hamas activists have been detained by Abbas' security forces in the West Bank" but could not say how many have since been released. Daraghmeh should have mentioned the PA's long history of a "revolving door," whereby it arrests militants only to give the impression of a crackdown while releasing them almost immediately.

In an effort to further bolster PA leader Abbas's credibility as having made good on his word, Daraghmeh adds: "Abbas said after the Hamas takeover of Gaza that he would not tolerate militias in the West Bank." Daraghmeh reports that the PA hopes to "take full security control of the territories" on the West Bank. Daraghmeh's agenda-driven reporting is intended exactly to leave his readers little basis on which to deny the PA what it wants.

UN Misses Opportunity on Lebanon

Despite having been briefed on Syrian collusion in the transfer of weapons to Hizballah in Lebanon, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) watered down a resolution that would have demanded the Syrians stop such activity. Instead, the resolution omitted any mention of Syria, or Iran. Also, to get support of UNSC member Qatar, the resolution omitted a condemnation of a statement by Hizballah's secretary-general that the group retains the capability to strike "all parts of Israel."

To its credit, the resolution mentioned that Hizballah continues to hold three Israeli soldiers, whose abduction led to last summer's war with Israel. However, the UN confused the issue and provided Hizballah an excuse to continue to hold the soldiers by also calling attention to Lebanese "prisoners" jailed in Israel for terrorist activity.

Nevertheless, US Ambassador to the UN Khalilzad insisted that the UNSC's expression of "grave concern" constituted a "strong message" to Syria to halt arms shipments into Lebanon.

Without naming names and threatening consequences, however, the UN's action is unlikely to help the situation in any way whatsoever, demonstrating once again its own futility and inability to play a constructive role in advancing responsible behavior among rogue Arab regimes such as Syria. It is also notable that Qatar, to whom the US plans to sell billions of dollars in fresh weapons as a "moderate" ally, impeded passage of what otherwise could have been a more effective UNSC resolution.

Hamas Pays for Support

According to an article in India Daily, Hamas has paid for a massive wedding of 60 Palestinian couples in a refugee camp in Syria.

``Hamas helped me make my dreams come true. I want to thank Hamas simply because it made me happy,'''' said 27-year-old groom Abdel Rahman Taha.

Hamas reportedly also provided each couple with $1,500 in cash and household appliances. Last week, Hamas announced it soon will begin a region-wide appeal for donations from Arab states and individuals.

The expense of the wedding -- despite Hamas' ongoing dire need to finance its governance of the Gaza Strip and the creation of a 15,000-man armed militia there -- demonstrates just how important it is to Hamas that it continue to buy support among Palestinian to sustain its radical agenda. It also suggests that Hamas has not been substantially hurt by US efforts to disrupt its access to money. US authorities should investigate how Hamas leaders in Syria collect and manage money and seek ways to disrupt such activity. They should also demand of Syria that it prevent Hamas from utilizing Syrian financial channels for such purposes, however unlikely Syria is to comply.

US Should Resist Saudi Pressure

The Saudis want to play the old game with the United States and the US should dictate new rules. The US wants the Saudis to attend a planned Israel-Palestinian peace conference President Bush announced earlier this month, and now the Saudis are trying to shift conference's focus away from Palestinian reform and toward US pressure on Israel. The US should push back and resist Saudi pressure.

"We are interested in a peace conference that deals with substantive matters of peace, issues of real substance, not non-substantive issues," the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said at a news conference with [US Secretary of State] Rice and [US Secretary of Defense] Gates in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. "If that does so, that becomes of great interest to Saudi Arabia. . . . We would look very closely and very hard at attending." (Washington Post, August 2, 2007)

"Substantive matters of peace" is code for Israel's withdrawal to the 1967 borders and vacating all West Bank settlements. However, as the Gaza disengagement proved, the impediments to lasting peace do not involve land and settlements but lack of a serious partner among the Palestinians ready to make compromises for peace, among them ending terrorism once and for all as a negotiating strategy and recognizing Israel's right to secure and defendable borders. In order to succeed, the conference must focus on creating a reformed, accountable Palestinian Authority that can take public support away from Hamas. Otherwise, it will fail and peace will be further delayed. That's why the US must insist to the Saudis that there's a new game in town, with new rules, and that the US has sobered up and will no longer fall for their tricks if Israeli-Palestinian peace is ever to be achieved.

Bribing Israel to Look Away

To help convince Israel that billions of dollars in advanced weapons sales (including smart bombs and air-to-air missiles) to some seven Arab countries will not diminish Israel's "qualitative military edge over any combination of Arab foes" (as the long-standing promise goes), the US reportedly will provide Israel with $30 billion in new weapons of its own over the next decade.

The United States has sought to allay Israeli concerns about the forthcoming package. The senior U.S. defense official said Washington was working on a military assistance deal for Israel expected to top $30 billion during the next decade, a significant increase on current levels.

Rather than take the bait, Israel should take the high road and tell its closest ally, the United States, that the planned weapons sales to the Arabs are counter-productive, will derail efforts to pursue significant reform in these countries, and put in the hands of Israel's enemies the means to threaten Israel's security. Furthermore, the weapons will not deter, as intended, Iran from attacking its neighbors once it acquires nuclear weapons. Rather, the weapons only further fuel the regional arms race.

"This administration does not have an arms sales policy, except to sell, sell, sell," said Daryl G. Kimball of the Arms Control Association. "That approach in the Middle
East can be like throwing gasoline on a brush fire." (Washington Post, July 28, 2007)

More Weapons Sales to Arabs

The Bush Administration this weekend announced plans to sell billions of dollars worth of advanced weapons to at least five Arab "allies" and Israel. The sales to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait are being justified as necessary to counter a threat from Iran ("This is all about Iran," one US official reportedly said) and, undoubtedly, to win Arab support for US plans with regard to Iraq. In a July 29 cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the sales were to "moderate" Arab countries, who had committed that the "weapons will not be used against Israel."

While these Arab states may not be as radical as Iran, whose leaders pursue nuclear weapons and Israel's destruction, they are neither "moderate" nor "allies" of the US. To refer to them as such is inaccurate and deceptive. With the exception of Egypt, all of these Arab states continue to reject Israel's existence and are led by regimes that limit press freedom and civil society development. They have demonstrated no "moderate" tendencies whatsoever. Referring to these Arabs states as "moderate" alleviates pressure on them to reform their systems of government or provide increased freedoms for their people.

"This will reduce pressure on Egypt and the Arab states to reform their politics. It's another case of trying to purchase stability at the expense of liberty," said Human Rights Watch Washington director Tom Malinowski. (Washington Post, July 28, 2007)

Furthermore, they share no common values with Americans. Nor have they made any effort to pursue bonds of friendship with the US. Thus, they are undeserving of the distinction of "allies," as well. Britain, Canada, the Aussies -- these countries are "allies."

Olmert gambles with Israel's security when he would have others take at their word that these Arab countries will never allow their new weapons to be used against Israel.