Excerpts: Jordan on alert.EU and terrorists.Euro diplomats in Israel.Iraqi
opposition split. Jordan seeks special Suez Canal rates 16 November 2002

+++ "Crackdown in Jordan"
The Economist 14 Nov. '02: MAAN:"Black masks amid the devout"

HEADING:"Pro-Iraqi dissent is growing among Jordan's loyal, indigenous
tribes"

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"His disciples ... used to prowl the streets in black masks, and
prayed, with grenades strapped to their
chests, for an Islamist protectorate."

"Maan ... rebelled against authority four times in the last 13
years"

"checkpoints block the highways, and telephone lines are cut."

"the hospital has orders not to release the bodies of the few people
killed lest funerals degenerate into
intifada-like protests."
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EXCERPTS:
AN ARAB city where tanks roll through the streets, helicopter gunships fire
at homes, soldiers wage house-to-house combat, and the police impose a
curfew? It sounds like Nablus, said Jordanians .... But the town is Maan,
200km (125 miles) south of Amman, and the force that stormed it is
Jordanian. Four days after the assault was launched on November 10th, the
town's mosques, normally full for Ramadan prayers, were empty, residents
needed written permits to leave their houses, and a pervasive sense of
danger hung in the air.

Officially, the assault was to arrest a local preacher, Muhammad Shalabi.
For two weeks, officials have been seeking to interrogate the cleric about
last month's killing of Lawrence Foley, an American diplomat. But Mr Shalabi
appears to have escaped. Bewildered Maanis wonder why the intelligence
services did not do what they usually do: mount a discreet operation to grab
the man. ...

But Mr Shalabi was no simple firebrand, reply officials. They paint a
picture of a band of brigands holding hostage the frightened ... people of
Maan. Maanis themselves say he belonged to a group called Takfir wal Hijra,
which had declared the king (and others) to be unbelievers. His disciples
... used to prowl the streets in black masks, and prayed, with grenades
strapped to their chests, for an Islamist protectorate.

Traditionally, Jordan's Islamists are well integrated into the political
structure. But this is changing. King Abdullah is determined to mount his
own war on terror, before American troops offer to do the job for him. ...
he wants to nip in the bud any armed resistance to an American strike on
Iraq. Jordanian preachers have already begun unleashing fatwas ordering a
jihad in the event of war.

Maan ... rebelled against authority four times in the past 13 years, was an
obvious choice. Located on the desert edge, the town can trace a history of
revolt back 2,000 years. More recently, demonstrations in support of Iraq
have repeatedly spiralled into rioting (the pro-Iraq Baath Party has old
roots in the town).

Now the town is sealed off ...: checkpoints block the highways, and
telephone lines are cut. The king, making a hastily arranged trip to Mecca,
has apparently sounded out the Saudi leaders on barring Mr Shalabi's way
south. The government says the operation will continue until all unlicensed
guns in the south have been confiscated: a huge target since most tribesmen
are armed.

...the unrest has shown little sign of spreading ... Jordan's Palestinian
majority, concentrated in the Amman region, has shown less agitation about
Jordan's possible role in a war on Iraq than have the indigenous tribes to
the south.

Yet Maan is particularly important to the monarchy. When the king's
great-grandfather, Abdullah I, first rode up from the Arabian peninsula to
claim the east bank of the Jordan in 1920,

[IMRA: The Economist fails to note that the British installed Abdullah I
in a pure "imperialist"-type action and that Abduyllah I was assassinated in
front of Al-Aqsa Mosque by a Palestinian.]

Maan was the first town to herald him king. Ever since, the Hashemite
monarchy has relied on a bedrock of indigenous support. But Maan
eyewitnesses tell of masked men manning machineguns on roof-tops to resist
the army sent from the north. And the hospital has orders not to release the
bodies of the few people killed lest funerals degenerate into intifada-like
protests.

+++ JRUSALEM POST 15 Nov.'02:
BY CAROLINE B. GLICK: "Terrorists ...and the EU" [IMRA: Cross-reference to
"EURO Diplpmats Getting Abusive"]
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"Given Egypt's leading role as an inciter of hatred against Israel and
the Jewish people, it was ...not
surprising that Cairo hosted this week;s Palestinian terror conference
between Fatah and Hamas."

"more surprising is that the European Union sponsored the conference."

"the EU does not hold discussions with ... the Aksa Martyrs Brigades,,,
which the EU defines as a terrorist
organization."

"He ... insists that Fatah is not a terrorist organization even when
Fatah's Web site published the Aksa
Martyrs Brigades' announcement of the 'qualitative operation in the
settlement of Metzler" in which their
comrade killed 'five Zionist colonizers'. "
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EXCERPTS:

Given Egypt's leading role as an inciter of hatred against Israel and the
Jewish people, it was also not surprising that Cairo hosted this week's
Palestinian terror conference between Fatah and Hamas. Hamas terrorist
extraordinaire Abdul Aziz Rantisi told the Palestinian Information Center
earlier this week that the dialogue was taking place to find common ground
among all the Palestinians. He said, "We hope that [the] resistance option
would be the common ground of this dialogue and any other future dialogue."

Osama Abu Hamdan, Hamas's representative in Lebanon, who also attended the
talks, lauded the Egyptian role in hosting them and pointed out that Hamas
delegates had held numerous conversations with Egyptian government
officials. Media accounts over the past week reported that the head of
Egyptian intelligence was personally handling all Egyptian talks with Hamas.

Slightly more surprising is that the European Union sponsored the
conference. Alistair Crook, EU Middle East envoy Miguel Moratinos's security
adviser, was in Cairo. According to Javier Sancho, Moratinos's spokesman,
the EU's role was "to facilitate" the dialogue as "part of its ongoing
efforts to stop terrorism." Also as part of the EU's efforts to stop
Palestinian terrorism or at least some Palestinian terrorism this week it
was reported that the EU recently held talks with one Muhammed Naifa in an
effort to persuade him to limit Fatah terror attacks to Judea, Samaria, and
Gaza.

Sancho explained to me that the EU does not hold discussions with members of
the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which the EU defines as a terror organization.
"We only talk with Fatah," he said. Apparently when the EU representatives
spoke to Naifa, he must have been wearing his Fatah hat. Since they are the
same organization, saying he is from Fatah was not a lie.

Naifa, of course was the mastermind of the Kibbutz Metzer massacre, as well
as the massacre at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem this past June in
which seven people, including five-year-old Gal Eisenman and her
grandmother, Noa Alon, were murdered.

One wonders what Moratinos was thinking about when on Tuesday, as his
security adviser was ensconced at the terror summit in Cairo, he attended
the joint funerals of Metzer massacre victims Revital Ohayon and her young
sons Matan and Ohad. He told reporters "I have come to identify with the
victims." But how could he identify with them? He, who just recently had his
representatives meet with their murderer to try to cut a deal. He, who
insists that Fatah is not a terrorist organization even when Fatah's Web
site published the Aksa Martyrs Brigades' announcement of the "qualitative
operation in the settlement of Metzer" in which their comrade killed "five
Zionist colonizers."

The announcement also warned us that the murder of little boys and girls is
an actual aim of Fatah today. "We will continue to strike in any place,
targeting their children as well," it read.

How could Moratinos possibly be capable of identifying with the Ohayons?
Just this week, Chris Patten, the European Commission's foreign relations
chief, said that he needs an investigation of PA abuse of EU funds "like I
need a hole in the head." Moratinos, like Patten, refuses to stop the EU's
monthly $10 million payments to the PA even though the government and the
IDF have provided them both with documented proof that those funds are used
to finance Fatah terror cells.

+++HA'ARETZ -ANGLO FILE 15 Nov.'02:
"Euro diplomats getting abusive, top Israelis say

Nonsense, Israelis are just more touchy, say diplomats serving here" By
Charlotte Halle

[IMRA: Cross reference: Caroline Glick's Terrorists and the
EU" Jerusalem Post 15 Nov.]

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"European ambassaadors [are] taking 'the liberty to criticize
Israeli policy in a not very diplomatic way'."

"Belgian ambassador Wilfred Geens ...was reported to have
called Infrastructure Minister Effi Eitam a ' fascist' during an
interview with an Arabic language weekly "

"Criticism of Israel is the 'zeitgeist of Europe ... this sort of
language has become the language of diplomacy' "

"Western Europe has a long history of being very
judgemental towards Israel"

"Described the comment about Eitan attributed to the
Belgium ambassador as 'going against any rule of
diplomacy.' "

"the EU is one of Israel's 'favorite punch-bags', despite the
many 'positive programs' it sponsors here."

"Israeli ambassadors abroad have not always stuck to this code to
carefully." [Criticism of host country.]
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FULL TEXT:

Top Israeli diplomats past and present are noticing a shift in diplomatic
usage by ambassadors accredited to Israel.

[IMRA: Many foreign diplomat staff identify and cooperate with
pro-Palestinian anti-Israel NGOs.]

But European envoys say there is no change in their language - the intifada
has just made Israelis more sensitive to criticism.

European ambassadors taking "the liberty to criticize Israeli policy in a
not very diplomatic way," says Zalman Shoval, a former Likud MK who was
twice Israeli ambassador to Washington.

Shoval attributes the shift to a "general change of mood in parts of Western
Europe regarding Israel - not unconnected to the growth of anti-Semitism."
He says he is not accusing the ambassadors of anti-Semitism, but he is
suggesting their criticism of Israel - "consciously or unconsciously" - is
motivated by anti-Semitism. They are influenced by the atmosphere in their
countries, which are also "hung up over their own colonial pasts," says
Shoval.

[IMRA: Some of the programs they support treat Israel as politically
backward and needing advice.]

The shift is not significant enough to indicate a change in atmosphere
between Israelis and foreign diplomats personally or at a business level, he
says. "Relationships have not changed. Ambassadors still say they were
misquoted, which is a standard way of retreating in diplomatic practice."

Recently both Belgium ambassador Wilfred Geens and British ambassador
Sherard Cowper-Coles were publicly scolded by the Foreign Ministry for
comments they were quoted as making. Geens was reported to have called
Infrastructure Minister Effi Eitam a "fascist" during an interview with an
Arabic-language weekly based in Nazareth - a claim Geens described as
"twisted and fabricated" - and Cowper-Coles was quoted as calling the West
Bank and Gaza Strip as "the biggest detention camp in the world" during a
private conversation with an IDF general which was leaked.

Criticism of Israel is the "zeitgeist of Europe these days, hence this sort
of language has become the language of diplomacy," says British-born Yehuda
Avner, a former senior Foreign Ministry official, who served as ambassador
to London for much of the 1980's. Diplomats, he says, are addressing a
public which is "attuned" to this kind of language.

"Governments do not have to spell it out for diplomats to resort to abusive
vernacular," says Avner. "Western Europe has a long history of being very
judgmental toward Israel and is constantly seeking ways to become part of
the political processes here in the Middle East," which Israel has never
been enthusiastic about. "It can be a source of frustration for European
ambassadors in this country," he added.

Red lines

Earlier this month, Victor Harel, the head of the Foreign Ministry's Europe
division, who was given the task of expressing the ministry's disapproval of
Geens' comments, told Anglo File that recent comments from ambassadors
reflected a new trend of diplomats breaking with "traditional diplomacy" and
"crossing red lines" in their willingness to criticize Israel publicly. He
added that the Foreign Ministry is "very concerned" by the trend.

Colette Avital, MK (Labor), a former ambassador to Portugal and
consul-general in New York, said that as a diplomat, public criticism is
"simply not done." She described the comment about Eitam attributed to the
Belgium ambassador as "going against any rule of diplomacy." A good
diplomat, she commented, would have said, "we don't approve of such
policies," when asked about Eitam.

European diplomats in Israel have a different take on the matter. All those
interviewed said there was no change in the tone or language used by
diplomats here, but some mentioned a notably increased sensitivity on behalf
of Israelis since the second intifada broke out more than two years ago.

One European ambassador in Israel commented that leaking a private
conversation - which he emphasized was not a new phenomena - now had the
potential to be more damaging as a result of the "heightened sensitivity"
Israelis now feel. There was also a slight decrease in trust between
diplomats and the Israeli authorities they deal with, he commented.

"All sorts of weapons are being used in this conflict. There is often
animosity directed toward our governments and, as ambassadors, we can get
caught in the middle." Ambassadors from the European Union are particularly
vulnerable, he added, as the EU is one of Israel's "favorite punch-bags,"
despite the many "positive programs" it sponsors here.

[IMRA: Most of the "positive programs" are tilted against Israeli
governments and favor Palestinian causes.]

Another senior European diplomat suggested that Israelis sometimes employ a
level of "emotional blackmail" in order to deter envoys from voicing
criticism of the country's policies.

[IMRA: Is public criticism of the host country a diplomatic function?]

One central European ambassador noted that while there was a diplomatic
tradition of not criticizing the host country, Israeli ambassadors abroad
have not always stuck to this code too carefully.

[[IMRA: This has always happened in the context of comment on clear
anti-Semitism.]

Claude Altermatt, counsellor of the Swiss embassy, acknowledged that while
there is "tension" as a result of the intifada, he observed no change in the
atmosphere between Israelis and foreign diplomats.

"I don't see any reluctance on the part of Israelis to speak about the
situation or in their level of tolerance to accept criticism," he said,
pointing out that diplomats based here also "share the problems of Israelis
and the same threat of terror."

[IMRA: Really! How many diplomat staff have been killed or injured?]

Swiss concerns about Israeli violations of the Geneva Conventions in the
West Bank and Gaza are "not new," he added.

+++JORDAN TIMES 15-16 Nov.'02:
"Iraqi opposition delays conference"
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"Six major opposition groups, who refused to work together in
the past, have been planning the conference."

"Kanan Makiya ... has written the US State Department asking
it to intervene to stop the conference , which he says is
dominated by a few groups and in particular excludes liberal-
minded, independent dissidents."
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EXCERPTS:
CAIRO (AP) - Exiled Iraqi opposition groups have again postponed a
conference planned this month in Belgium to discuss their possible role in
toppling ... Saddam Hussein.
... a preparatory committee said it is putting off the conference,
scheduled for Nov. 22 ... for two weeks, in part because most of the
delegates have not yet received Belgian visas.

Six major opposition groups, who refused to work together in the past, have
been planning the conference. In addition to discussing their role in any
US-led invasion of Iraq, delegates also were expected to choose a committee
that might be the basis of an interim government for a post-Saddam Iraq.

Rivalries and internal fighting over power-sharing after regime change have
delayed the conference, originally scheduled for September.

A major obstacle is a demand by Ahmed Chalabi, a leader of the US- backed
Iraqi National Congress, to enlarge the conference by some 300 INC members,
trying to bring more of his supporters to a gathering expected to be
dominated by more powerful political rivals.

Kanan Makiya, another key dissident and a Chalabi ally, has written the US
State Department asking it to intervene to stop the conference, which he
says is dominated by a few groups and in particular excludes liberal-minded,
independent dissidents.

The United States has urged Iraqi opposition groups to develop plans for
governing their nation if President Saddam is overthrown. In a recent letter
to exiled Iraqi opposition leaders, US Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman
pressed the dissidents to speed up the convening of a broad conference on
Iraq's future.

. . .

The Iraqi opposition is split along sectarian, ethnic, clan and political
lines.

The rivalries have grown more intense with the prospect of a US-led war... .

=====================================================

JORDAN TIMES 15-16 Nov.'02:
"Security tightened amid fear of attack on former Iraqi army chief"
FULL TEXT:
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Danish police said on Thursday they had stepped-up
security around the house of a former head of Iraqi armed forces living in
Denmark, amid reports they feared an attempt on his life.

Nizar Al Khazraji has been named as a possible future Iraqi leader, while
Kurdish refugees living in Denmark have accused the former general of being
involved in chemical weapon attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s.

Police spokesman Soeren Kragh Pedersen told AFP that security around
Khazraji had been stepped up, confirming press reports, but refused to say
why. Police sources quoted in the local Sjaellands-Tidende newspaper said
that the heightened surveillance was due to fears of an attack on the
64-year-old.

Khazraji, who was head of the armed forces from 1987 to 1990, fled to Jordan
in 1995 and four years later applied for political asylum in Denmark, where
he has since lived, around 50 kilometres south of Copenhagen.

He is believed to be the highest ranking officer to have deserted the regime
of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

+++JORDAN TIMES !5-16 Nov.'02: '
Jordan still awaits Egyptian response on reducing Suez Canal - Aqaba
tariffs" By Khalid Dalal

QUOTE FROM TEXT:
"cargo transit to Iraq ... decreased to less than 400,000
tonnes per year whereas in the mid-1990s it totalled around
seven million tonnes annually."
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EXCERPTS:
AMMAN - After one year of negotiations, the Ministry of Transport has not
yet reached a final agreement with the Suez Canal Authority to reduce
tariffs levied on imports heading to Aqaba through the Egyptian canal ... .
"... our contacts ... are ongoing ... and we hope we will reach an agreement
with them soon," Transport Minister Nader Dahabi told The Jordan Times.

. . .

In 2000, Jordan implemented measures to enhance cargo traffic in transit to
Iraq ... decreased to less than 400,000 tonnes per year whereas in the
mid-1990s it totalled around seven million tonnes annually.

The measures included reducing the tariffs on imports destined for the Iraqi
market through Aqaba by 50 per cent and reduced land transport tariffs by 25
per cent.

Since such measures were not enough, the ministry began debating other
measures, namely reducing tariffs on imports heading to Aqaba through the
Suez Canal.

The Jordanian officials have been also negotiating with the Egyptians to
obtain preferential prices and more incentives on exports of Jordanian
potash, phosphate and cement passing through the canal.

Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA