THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE

By Barry Chamish

    The EU's political head, Javier Solana showed up in Israel today (July 24), and ran into the arms of Europe's chief spy in the Israeli cabinet, Shimon Peres. And, because Solana and Europe are so dreadfully boring, hardly anyone paid attention to the evil significance of the visit. Luckily for us, an attorney, Constance E. Cumbey, is keeping close watch on Solana. She can be reached at: cumbey@tir.com She writes:

    "I have kept the closest of tabs on Dr. Solana since he first came to my attention -- November 22, 1995. I collected all I could find thereafter about his earlier activities. I have saved all to disk. Perhaps the best way to transmit might be by CD-ROM. I have prepared an informational video; I am working on a book about him. Since I practice law on a full-time basis, all is not easy. I did meet a Daniel Seaman, Director of the Foreign Press Department, Government Press Office, Office of the Prime Minister (then Barak) at a War Bonds for Israel dinner last fall. His address is 37 Hillel Street, Jerusalem 94581; telephone 972-2-623-3389-90; FAX 972-2-623-3388; Web Site www.gpo.gov.il. I did bend his ear at some length that evening about Javier Solana. He knew about the EU and damage coming from it, but was a little bit more clueless about Solana, but said he wanted to learn much more. He offered to get me press credentials if I wanted to come to Israel. I do believe he may have taken to heart what I told him and he might be an excellent contact. I told him he and the others in Israel would be very wise to learn as much about Solana as they knew about Hitler. Solana, unfortunately, appears to be tens of times shrewder and smarter than Mr. Hitler, and far more disarming. If one looks carefully, however, the fangs are obviously showing."

    Ms. Cumbey's approach is to absorb what Solana is telling the Arabs and what they are saying about him. She sent along some examples. Permit me to add some comments:

    Greater EU role in Middle East peace process demanded The Emirates News Agency (WAM) Posted Thursday May 24, 2001 - 10:12:26 AM EDT

    Abu Dhabi - A UAE newspaper hoped today the European Union (EU) would play greater role in mediation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, saying that the partisan role of the US had harmed peace-making.

    The "Gulf News" said in part : "The European Union (EU) is beginning to take a high- profile interest in the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. It has endorsed the Mitchell report and said it stands ready to assist the parties.

    "The EU head of foreign policy Javier Solana was a member of the Mitchell Commission which authored the report, and he has undertaken a tour of the region and held meetings with officials from both sides. The EU is one of the biggest aid donors of the Palestinians and has extensive economic interests and ties in the region."

    Now let's get this straight. Solana was a member of the Mitchell Commission, whose findings Israel alone adopted and since then has suffered over 700 terror attacks. Yet Solana tells the Arabs that the US role had harmed their peaceful interests. That means that Mitchell, the US mediator, was harmful but not Solana, who worked hand in hand with Mitchell to write his commission's report.

    Either Solana is a double-dealing, back-stabbing cretin or he's playing the role demanded of him, which is to make it appear that the EU and US have not coordinated Middle East policy. We can already conclude that if Mitchell demanded that Israel adopt a one-way cease-fire which lets the PLO murder with impunity, so did the EU.

    "Palestinians now want to see the EU play a greater role in mediation in the conflict with Israel. This would be beneficial for everyone. The overbearing and partisan role of the United States has done much to exacerbate the situation. Palestinians cannot get a just deal because the mediator is so clearly and avowedly biased.

"The EU has always propagated a balanced approach to the conflict and insisted on the implementation of UN Resolution 242 and 338. It has also called for a freeze in settlements.

"A more direct role would enable the EU to flex its political muscle and grow out of the shadows of the US. It would instill greater balance in diplomacy and perhaps provide the opening that everyone has been searching for," the paper said."

    And now we see how Solana has pulled the wool over the Arabs' eyes. He has convinced them that the EU's policy towards Israel is more unbiased than America's, and that it would press harder for Israel's demise. By leaving this impression, Solana also does some wool-pulling over Israeli eyes. Clearly, they must reason, America is a much better friend of Israel than the EU... the same America which prepared and endorsed the Mitchell Commission report, of which, Solana was an active contributor. Now let's have a look what Solana told the Syrians:

    Al-Assad confers with Solana, Syrian patriarchs Syria-European Union, Politics, 5/22/2001.

    "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday in Damascus's al-Shaab palace received the European Union's foreign policy and Security Council chairman Javier Solana and members of the accompanying delegation.

"The meeting was attended by the foreign minister Farouk al- Shara. Talks dealt with the conditions in the occupied Arab territories and the practices of genocide conducted by Israel against the Palestinians.

"The president stressed the importance of the ME peace progress in terms of maintaining clear- cut criteria according to provisions of the International legitimacy resolutions and the Madrid's terms of reference with a view to achieving a just and comprehensive peace.

"AL-Assad also noted the effective role of the EU has to play in the peace process. An agreement was concluded on continuing contacts between Syria and the EU. In a statement to SANA following his meeting with President al-Assad, Solana described the talks as very positive and constructive."

    Solana has just attended a meeting with the Syrian president and foreign minister and the topic is Israel's ongoing genocide against the Palestinians. Does he vigorously reply that the only genocide being discussed in the region is the Arabs' plans for Israel? Does he condemn the PLO's serial murder of innocents? Nope, he views what was discussed as constructive."

    He said that his talks with President al-Assad covered the situation in the region and relations between the EU and Syria.

    He added: "I am very pleased and wish to go back to Damascus to complete my talks."

    He continued: "'We, in the European Union, are trying our best to stop the cycle of violence and to create the conditions that allow the resumption of constructive negotiations." Solana, who is on a Middle East tour of five countries and the Palestinian territories, added that he had:" good and productive" talks with President al-Assad, which also covered negotiations on an association agreement between Syria and the EU.

"'I had a very good meeting with the President.. I think I have a very good picture about the thinking of Syria about the situation in the region.'"

    Look what Solana offered Syria; an associate membership in the EU, with all the monetary benefits that go along with joining the club. Now why would the EU welcome Syria as a junior partner? For its future contributions to the well-being of the European continent? To spread its fine human rights record to the world? And why would Syria agree unless the EU and Solana made some very concrete proposals concerning Israel? Now what could they include?"

    "It was also on Monday, the president received at the Damascus al-Shaab Palace Patriarch of Antioch and All the East for the Greek Orthodox, Patriarch Zakka Iwaz I, the patriarch of Antoich and all the east for Syrian Orthodox, Higher President of the Syriac Church in the World, Patriarch Isador Bateikha, the deputy patriarch for the Greek- Catholics. The patriarchs expressed their "high appreciation for the President's wise leadership, his national attitudes and his efforts for activating Arab solidarity in confrontation of the current challenges."

    Could it be Solana made a promise to get the Jews out of the Old City of Jerusalem and Assad just couldn't wait to tell the good news to his Christian patriarchs?

    At this very moment, some 200 European troops from a Ukrainian division, are learning the lay of the land in Jerusalem. They have been spotted roaming the Old City by several of my correspondents. Israel's perfidious leader Sharon is supposedly opposing the presence of EU troops while knowing they are already wandering his land. He would prefer inviting a contingent of CIA monitors, we are told, as if they won't be coordinating their murderous plots against Israel with the soldiers of the EU.

    Last week, the settlers were set up but good. A former Kach leader, Noam Federman, had three bombs planted in his car by radical elements of the General Security Services (Shabak). A lie was spread that he had planned to use them against Arabs. He wisely blamed the Shabak for the setup, but that didn't stop the Shabak from continuing their plan. Next, three Arabs, including an infant, were shot dead on a road near Hebron and The Committee For Road Safety took responsibility. This same group was run by the Shabak provocateur Avishai Raviv in the early 1990s, which the Shabak obviously forgot when they tried blaming Kach for the murders.

    Everything is in place: the EU troops are coming, the CIA is on the way in bigger and more deadly numbers to "stop the violence" by removing the "violent" settlers from their homes, starting with Hebron and ending, for a spell, in Jerusalem.

    However, there is a fly in the ointment, a spanner in the works, that could put an end to these best laid plans of mice, and that is the Rabin murder. As a result of President Katzav's early release of Margalit Har Shefi, there has a been a spirited revival of Rabin truth and demands for it. Here are two radio reports sent to me by correspondents:

    "Yesterday, the Radio interviewed Yitzchak Rabin's grandson regarding the release of Margalit Har Shefi. The grandson revealed that Leah Rabin had her doubts and questions about the assassination of Yitzchak but was afraid to open pandora's box."

    "Today, 18.7.01, on the Jojo Aboutbul evening radio talk show, an Israeli journalist from Bet El went live on the line to praise President Katzav for pardoning Har Shefi. He went on to disclose that, according to a cabinet protocol released shortly after the Rabin murder but immediately banned from further publication, a very senior cabinet minister suggested during a cabinet meeting that 'we must stage a political assassination' in order to further the Oslo process. The journalist said the cabinet meeting protocols were available for a day or two, then strictly banned by government and GSS decrees and failed to reach the mass media. Nevertheless, he's got a copy of it. He went on to say that the public did not get a chance to demand a REAL investigation into the Rabin murder and unfortunately the real murderer is still at large. At this point Juju forcefully cut him off, in mid-broadcast."

    Now, of course, we know that cabinet minister was Shimon Peres, the same fellow who smilingly hugged Solana earlier today. And if the Rabin assassination truth emerges, he will fall hard, as will the coterie of "peacemakers" who have brought Israel to the precipice of extinction.

    And look who demanded that the truth come out! Recall July 24, because on this day, after nearly six years of cowardly silence, the Jerusalem Post finally displayed integrity. The concluding paragraphs of its main editorial read:

    "The fact remains that the killing of Rabin continues to haunt Israeli society, as the ruckus over the Har Shefi pardon made all too apparent. There are still too many questions that remain open, such as the role of GSS agent-provocateur Avishai Raviv, for the wounds on the national psyche to have healed properly and fully. Indeed, Raviv is suspected of far more grievous crimes than Har Shefi, yet he still has not been brought to trial.

"The Raviv case could very well answer many of the lingering uncertainties surrounding the assassination regarding who knew what and when they knew it. If Israeli society is to truly succeed in uniting, it will have to come to terms with the divisions engendered by that horrific act, and the only way to do so is to start by removing whatever question marks still remain. Let us hope that such clarity will be achieved promptly and unequivocally."

    For the first time since the Rabin assassination, we all applaud the Jerusalem Post...all except Solana, Peres, Gillon and company.