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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters An unwelcoming embrace
OF ALL the consequences of Israel's decision to withdraw from south Lebanon by July one is filling the million-strong Palestinian minority in Israel with particular trepidation, the fate of the 2,500 members of the Israeli backed militia in the occupied zone, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem.Last week, the SLA's leader, Antoine Lahad, vowed to "stay on" after the Israeli withdrawal. It is unclear how many of his officers and their families will do likewise, especially in light of Hezbollah's increasingly effective strikes on them and its deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem's, warning last weekend that the SLA "may not live to see the Israeli withdrawal," let alone survive beyond it.
Although "big fish" like Lahad are likely to find residence in Paris (where he already spends most of his time), many officers and their kin are expected to fetch up in the same places as did Palestinian collaborators from the West Bank and Gaza -- Palestinian towns and villages inside Israel. They are not going to be welcome.
"For us, the SLA soldiers are mercenaries who betrayed their nation and their homeland, and therefore we will conduct a public campaign against their settlement in Arab villages," said chairman of the Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee, Mohamed Zeidan, on 26 April. "We will call on Arab citizens not to sell them land or houses and not to rent them apartments."
Nor is the SLA likely to receive a warmer reception from Israel's "loyal" Arabs in the Druse community. Asked by Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper on 28 April whether the Druse would welcome their "brothers" from Lebanon, the mayor of the Druse village Maghar, Assad Araida, replied, "I don't have housing for young couples and discharged soldiers, and now you want to also give me the SLA?"
Ties across the Gulf
A FLURRY of diplomatic overtures, orchestrated by Saudi Arabia, dominated the Arab Gulf scene this week with the aim of improving ties with neighbouring Iran and solving its territorial dispute with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).At the end of their regular "consultation" meeting held in the Omani capital, Muscat, on Saturday, leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) confirmed their desire to establish "solid relations [with Iran] based on mutual trust, neighbourliness, respect for each other's rights, and non-interference in others' affairs," said a statement.
UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan had reportedly expressed reservations that growing ties between Iran and several Arab Gulf countries, mainly Saudi Arabia and Oman, would come at the expense of his country's territorial dispute with Iran over the ownership of three strategic Arab Gulf islands.
The GCC summit in Oman came shortly after an unprecedented visit by Iran's defense minister to Saudi Arabi last week, and conflicting reports on a joint security agreement between Muscat and Tehran. Iran's foreign minister also paid a visit to Doha, Qatar this week, and Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz will head shortly for Tehran to discuss security cooperation between the two countries.
To calm UAE fears, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz made Abu Dhabi his first stop in a Gulf tour which started immediately after the Muscat summit. Oman's Sultan Qabbous also sent several envoys to UAE to confirm to Sheikh Zayed that no agreements were signed with Tehran.
The GCC had formed a tripartite committee a year ago made up of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman with the aim of initiating a dialogue between Iran and UAE to solve their territorial dispute. The leaders agreed at the end of their meeting in Muscat that the committee should continue its effort and present a report to the next meeting in six months.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal told reporters that the tripartite committee was not mediating between Iran and UAE, "because we fully support the UAE stand and its ownership of the three islands." He said that the committee's main task was to prepare the atmosphere to start a dialogue between the two countries. Saudi officials believe that positive ties with Iran could also help in persuading Tehran to adopt a more flexible position in any possible talks with UAE.
Freedom or death
SEVEN brothers and sisters of Tunisian journalist Tawfiq bin Braik decided on Monday to join his one-month-old hunger strike in an intensifying confrontation over press freedom in Tunisia.Bin Braik, correspondent for several French and European publications, began a hunger strike on 3 April at his home in Tunis to protest the confiscation of his passport and the harassment of his family. He is reported to be in rapidly declining health.
Bin Braik's brother, Jalal, was arrested last week when he tried to visit him at his house cordoned by police. The brother is refusing food in jail. Five brothers and sisters in France, Britain and Tunisia joined the protest on Monday, at their mother's behest.
"We will do what our mother has asked of us until our demands have been met," Bin Braik's sister, Nadjet, told reporters at the Paris offices of media freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
Taking part in the news conference by audio link from Tunisia, Bin Braik vowed to starve to death unless his brother is freed. "I am going to die. I am fascinated by thoughts about those who have fallen on the battlefield," he said.
He called Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine bin Ali "a second rate dictator" and said French President Jacques Chirac's silence on the subject made him "a collaborator." He said Tunisia's Interior Ministry had handed back his passport, the seizure of which set off his original protest, but court proceedings still barred him from leaving the country.
France has already offered him asylum.
"I am not going to stop my hunger strike just because they returned my passport or reconnected my telephone. They have given me a trinket and taken away the person who is the most important to me in the world. Jalal and I are Siamese twins," he said.
