Author: Kalashian Nyrie

Milford Daily News
Hometown parade: Portuguese Picnic draws thousands
By Sara Withee / News Staff Writer
Monday, July 19, 2004
MILFORD — Thousands of people filled Prospect Heights this weekend to eat,
drink and be merry at the annual Portuguese Picnic.
The Portuguese Club’s two-day festival — a Milford tradition since
1918 — began Saturday afternoon with music, smoked meats and games,
thengathered again yesterday for the annual parade, where this year’s mayor,
John Derderian, saluted the masses.
“It was a wonderful experience coming up Water Street, coming down
Prospect Heights,” said Derderian, 55. “It reminded me of my childhood and
coming to the picnic with my family.”
Derderian is the 44th mayor to be elected by the Prospect Heights
Mayors Association. In this position, Derderian will organize the annual
mayors’ reunion in October and spearhead community outreach efforts.
Mayors must have lived part of their youth in the brick row houses the
former Draper Corp. of Hopedale built around 1900 for its workers and
represent one of the area’s five major nationalities: Portuguese, Armenian,
Irish, Italian or Polish.
“I was very honored to be asked,” said Derderian, who is Portuguese and
Armenian.
Yesterday’s parade left Sacred Heart Church on East Main Street at 2
p.m. Milford selectmen Chairman John Seaver and his 10-month-old daughter
Cristina rode in on one of the first floats with Miss Portuguese Community
Mara Lage, 18.
Lage, the second person to hold the title, was joined by Lisa
Goncalves, 16, first runner-up of the February pageant and second runner-up
Liliana Dafonte, 18.
Derderian and a dozen former mayors arrived at the Portuguese Club on
the parade’s last float, then began enjoying the beef stew, tripe and
sardines.
“It’s quite a celebration, a little piece of Americana,” state Rep.
Marie Parente, D-Milford, said.
“It gets better every year,” said Al Azevedo, 61, of Milford, the 1997
Prospect Heights mayor.
Azevedo, who is Portuguese, Albanian and Irish, said the two-day
festival is a chance to reunite with childhood friends with whom he played
outside and shared meals as their parents tried to get by in their new
country.
“We all took care of one another, our parents took care of one
another,” Azevedo said.
Azevedo said he always leaves the celebration with a strong feeling
about his past. “No matter where you go, the people who grew up here,
they’re always here for you,” Azevedo said.
Joseph Lopes, the 1971 Prospect Heights mayor, recalled his youth and
agreed, saying, “There was a level of trust in the community. Very few
people ever locked their doors.”
Fellow former mayor Joe Oneshuck, 70, said he never fully understood
that trust as a child and remembers questioning his father whenever he heard
him talking to a neighbor who spoke a language the family didn’t know.
“He said, ‘It doesn’t matter what they say, I know what they mean.’
They were all in the same situation. They were trying to raise a family.
They were trying to survive,” said Oneshuck, the 1975 mayor.
Oneshuck said he sees the same plight among today’s Prospect Heights’
residents.
“They’re going through the same things with their children as our
parents did,” he said. “They’re all trying to work their way up in society.”
But Lopes noted the melting pot has seen some changes.
“Milford has a lot of Brazilians and Hispanics,” Lopes said. “These
people are the new wave of immigrants. They pretty much represent what our
families did in those times.”
( Sara Withee can be reached at 508-634-7546 or [email protected] )

ArmenPress
July 15 2004
ARMENIAN PATRIARCH OF TURKEY SPEAKS IN FAVOR OF TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP
TO EU
ISTANBUL, JULY 15, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian Patriarch of Turkey,
Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian, met recently with the senior consul of
the French consulate in Istanbul, Jean Christopher Possel, who was
eager to learn Mutafian’s views concerning Turkey’s drive towards EU
membership.
Mutafian said it would not be correct to look at the entire
Armenian community of Turkey as a homogeneous body. “Those French
Armenians who resist Turkish EU membership represent only part of
Armenians. Along with Diaspora Armenians who advocate against
Turkey’s accession to EU there are also Armenians who realize the
benefits that can come for Turkish-Armenian relations together with
Turkey’s membership and therefore they support that process,” he
said.
Mutafian said he too, as the Armenian Patriarch, speaks often in
favor of Turkey’s membership. “In the event of meeting all
requirements of becoming an EU member country, the membership will
have a very positive effect on the state of Turkish citizens,
national minorities, in terms of improving Armenian-Armenian
relations and securing regional stability,” he said.

Agence France Presse
July 17, 2004 Saturday
Erdogan en France pour promouvoir la candidature turque a l’UE avant
decembre(AVANT-PAPIER)
Par Burak AKINCI
ANKARA
BODY: Le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan effectue de lundi
a mercredi une visite officielle en France pour promouvoir aupres des
dirigeants francais la candidature de son pays a l’Union europeenne,
epineux sujet qui divise la scene politique francaise.
M. Erdogan doit s’entretenir avec son homologue Jean-Pierre Raffarin
au premier jour de sa visite et etre recu le lendemain a l’Elysee par
le president Jacques Chirac lors d’un dejeuner de travail.
“C’est une visite importante dans un Etat important de l’UE”, a
precise un diplomate turc sous couvert d’anonymat. Outre la
candidature turque, les relations bilaterales et commerciales seront
egalement au menu des entretiens, a-t-on precise de meme source.
La Commission europeenne doit remettre en octobre sa recommandation
sur l’ouverture de negociations d’adhesion avec la Turquie, que
decideront ou non les dirigeants europeens en decembre.
La Turquie a obtenu le statut de candidat a l’UE en 1999.
Estimant avoir rempli les conditions politiques –les criteres de
Copenhague– pour ouvrir ces negociations, le gouvernement de M.
Erdogan, qui dirige un parti issu de la mouvance islamiste, l’AKP, a
fait passer au parlement plusieurs reformes democratiques. Il espere
que ces discussions debuteront des debut 2005.
La question de l’entree dans l’UE de la Turquie, pays musulman mais
laieque de plus de 70 millions d’habitants, divise profondement les
opinions europeennes et les partis politiques francais.
Le 29 juin, lors du sommet de l’OTAN a Istanbul, M. Chirac avait
vivement critique la prise de position du president americain George
W. Bush en faveur d’une adhesion de la Turquie a l’UE, y voyant une
ingerence dans les affaires europeennes.
Le president francais avait toutefois juge “irreversible” la marche
d’Ankara vers l’UE, estimant que “la Turquie a une vocation
europeenne, historique, tres ancienne”, meme si son parti, l’Union
pour la majorite presidentielle (UMP), s’est prononce contre une
adhesion.
L’entree de la Turquie dans l’UE signerait “a terme la fin de
l’Europe”, avait declare le president de l’UMP, Alain Juppe,
proposant plutot pour Ankara la solution d'”un voisinage rapproche”.
M. Erdogan doit avoir un tete-a-tete avec M. Juppe ainsi qu’avec le
president du parti centriste UDF Francois Bayrou et avec le premier
secretaire du parti socialiste (PS), Francois Hollande.
A la difference des partis de droite, le PS, premier parti
d’opposition en France, est favorable au principe de l’entree de la
Turquie dans l’UE mais conditionne pour sa part l’ouverture de
negociations d’adhesion a la reconnaissance par ce pays du genocide
armenien de 1915, pendant l’empire ottoman.
La Turquie, qui rejette categoriquement la these d’un “genocide”,
avait ete particulierement irritee par l’adoption par le parlement
francais en 2001 d’une loi reconnaissant le genocide armenien.
Lors de sa visite M. Erdogan doit egalement evoquer les relations
economiques. Les echanges entre les deux pays se sont chiffres en
2003 a quelque 6 milliards d’euros.
La France est le deuxieme partenaire commercial de la Turquie et son
quatrieme fournisseur.
La compagnie nationale Turkish Airlines se prepare a acheter pres de
cinquante avions de ligne, notamment moyen et long courrier, pour
renouveler sa flotte vieillissante. Le consortium aeronautique
europeen Airbus et l’americain Boeing sont en lice.
M. Erdogan souhaiterait se servir de ce contrat de deux milliards de
dollars (1,6 milliard euros), qui devrait en principe etre partage
entre les deux constructeurs, pour “inciter” les Francais a donner
leur aval a l’ouverture des negociations d’adhesion avec Ankara,
a-t-on indique de source proche du dossier.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
July 17 2004
Schiff genocide resolution faces GOP resistance
House leaders fear offending ally Turkey one day after House passes
bill affirming Armenian Genocide.
By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press
WASHINGTON – A day after getting the House of Representatives to
recognize the Armenian Genocide for the first time, Rep. Adam Schiff
(D-Glendale) was already feeling pressure Friday from the House’s
Republican leadership to drop the issue.
The House of Representatives accepted an amendment to the foreign
operations appropriation bill Thursday sponsored by Schiff that would
prohibit Turkey from using U.S. foreign aid funds to lobby against
recognition of the genocide.
“It puts the House on record as saying that the genocide took place,
we know it took place, and we won’t allow our money to be used to
deny it,” Schiff said.
>From 1915 to 1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
Turks, but the United States has never acknowledged it as genocide.
Schiff’s amendment is the first time the House voted on a measure
related to the genocide.
But a joint House-Senate committee must approve the amendment, and
Republican leaders in the House are already starting to fight it. In
a joint statement, Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.),
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and House Majority Whip Roy
Blunt (R-Mo.) insisted the committee drop the amendment and said the
House would not consider officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide
this year.
Republicans fear that recognizing the genocide will hurt the United
States’ relationship with Turkey, a strategic military ally. The
United States and Turkey jointly operate an air force base in
Incirlik, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
“Turkey has been a reliable ally of the United States for decades,
and the deep foundation upon which our mutual economic and security
relationship rests should not be disrupted by this amendment,”
Hastert, DeLay and Blunt said in a written statement. Efforts to
reach them Friday were unsuccessful.
Schiff dismissed the notion, saying that Turkish leaders might be
angered for a month and then get over it.
He pledged to work hard to make sure the amendment remains part of
the bill, and he expects help from Armenian-American leaders
throughout the country.
“Up until now, [the Republicans] have been killing this resolution
behind the scenes; killing it with silence,” Schiff said. “This is
the first time they’ve been fleshed out and forced into the open.”
In Glendale, the Armenian-American community rejoiced that Schiff’s
amendment passed.
Ardashes Kassakhian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee’s Western Region, which serves Glendale and Burbank, heard
the news while serving as a counselor at an Armenian youth camp. He
immediately shared it with the campers.
“I told them, boys and girls, we’ve been working hard for a very long
time to have a success such as this,” Kassakhian said. “It’s been a
while since we’ve had a success such as this one, and we achieved it.
The kids all started cheering and singing Armenian patriotic songs.”

The Washington Post
July 16, 2004 Friday
Final Edition
House Votes Down Cut In Military Aid to Egypt;
Administration Officials Pressed Hill on Issue
Dan Morgan, Washington Post Staff Writer
The House yesterday rejected a $570 million cut in U.S. military aid
to Egypt after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell issued a
last-minute warning to lawmakers that the action would damage
relations with a close Middle East ally “at a very sensitive moment
in the region.”
Although the 287 to 131 vote was lopsided, the administration and
military contractors who sell U.S.-financed weaponry to Egypt took
seriously the threat of a cut and worked behind the scenes to head it
off.
Before the vote, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice made
calls to some lawmakers, who were also on notice from arms companies
that the shift could result in job losses in home districts. “It was
a full-court press,” said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who offered the
amendment to the $19.4 billion foreign aid bill for 2005.
His bill would have shifted the military aid to economic assistance,
which he said is “desperately needed” in Egypt. “The last thing this
society [Egypt] needs is the ultimate in high-tech weaponry,” Lantos
said.
The debate brought out highly ambivalent feelings about Egypt. The
House’s pro-Israel forces used the opportunity to vent frustration
with the Egyptian government’s role during hostilities between Israel
and the Palestinians. Among those supporting the cut was House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), one of the strongest supporters
of Israeli interests in Congress.
Lawmakers took the floor to rebuke the Egyptian government for
tolerating anti-Semitism, limiting its cooperation with the United
States in the war on terrorism and failing to prevent gun-smuggling
to militant Palestinian groups.
But Powell and senior lawmakers in both parties warned that the
action would send the wrong signal at a time when Egypt has begun
working closely with Israel to assure a smooth transition as Israel
plans to withdraw from Gaza.
In a letter to Congress, Powell noted that a unilateral reduction
would weaken the balanced military aid to Egypt and Israel that is a
“cornerstone” of the 1979 Camp David peace accords. In 2005, Israel
and Egypt are set to receive $2.2 billion and $1.3 billion in grants,
respectively, under the formula.
“Our credibility in this relationship depends to a great degree upon
being a reliable provider of assistance to the Egyptian military,”
Powell wrote.
“This puts a finger in the eye of our friends in Egypt,” said Rep.
John D. Dingell (D-Mich.)
Jewish House members were divided on the issue. Rep. Nita M. Lowey
(D-N.Y.) questioned why the United States was providing lavish
military assistance to Egypt even though “it has no real enemies” and
its government tolerates “TV shows that perpetuate anti-Semitism.”
But she said she was reluctantly opposing the aid cut because of its
timing, noting that Egypt has lately signaled its intention to play a
more constructive Middle East role.
However, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), in backing Lantos’s proposal,
said years of U.S. aid to Egypt have done little to curb anti-Israel
rhetoric in the country’s media.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the principal
pro-Israel lobby in the United States, took no official position on
the issue. Earlier in the day, AIPAC won at least a symbolic victory
when it helped push through the House a resolution that was critical
of a July 9 advisory judgment from the International Court of Justice
holding Israel’s security wall to be illegal. The resolution
indicated that the ruling was a result of improper political pressure
from members of the U.N. General Assembly. The vote was 361 to 45.
Later yesterday, Republican leaders helped the underlying foreign aid
bill get passed by a 365 to 41 vote. Tight budget restrictions forced
the House to cut $2 billion from President Bush’s request, but the
measure still provides a record $2.2 billion to fight HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis — nearly $60 million more than last year.
The president got only half the $2.5 billion he requested for his
signature foreign aid initiative, the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. The corporation establishes a new way to dispense
foreign aid to countries that qualify by meeting a list of criteria
such as commitment to free-market economies and democratic
institutions.
The bill provides $900 million in aid to Afghanistan, and continues a
waiver that allows continued bilateral economic assistance to
Azerbaijan despite that country’s economic blockage of Armenia.

ARMENIAN PM MEETS WITH MOSCOW MAYOR
YEREVAN, JULY 15, ARMENPRESS: Before wrapping up an official
visitto Moscow, Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian met today
with Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, who said that the trade between the
two countries was not satisfactory, despite some progress in that
area. The Russian mayor briefedthe Armenian prime minister on Moscow
government plans concerning Armenia, which he said would mark a
significant progress if implemented.
Luzhkov, particulalry, expounded about construction of Yerevan
Trade Center in Moscow, which is set to be built by Armenian companies
and is expected to be over in 2005. His other proposal was about
building a center for wholesale of Armenia-made products. Luzhkov also
proposed that a joint commission, made of Armenian government and
Moscow officials be formed to promote mutually beneficial ideas. The
Moscow mayor also promised to assist Armenia to secure reasonable and
fixed fee for hiring a pavilion at all-Russian exhibition center.
Armenian prime minister asked Luzhkov to consider the issue of
providing quotas for Armenian builders in Moscow so that they face no
problems when working there.

Armen Press
July 12 2004
PRIME MINISTER ANDRANIK MARGARYAN TO VISIT RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON JUNE
12
YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS: On July 12 Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan left for the Russian Federation on a two-day
official visit at the invitation of Mikhail Fradkov, the chairman of
the Government of the Russian Federation. The Armenian delegation,
headed by the Prime Minister, includes Vardan Khachatrian, the
minister of finance and economy, Karen Chshmaritian, the minister of
trade and economic development, Sergo Yeritsian, the minister of
science and education, Armen Avetisian, the chairman of the
government affiliated state customs committee, Tatul Margaryan, the
deputy minister of foreign affairs and also senior officials of the
staff of the government and the ministry of foreign affairs.
On July 13 Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan will have a meeting
with his Russian counterpart, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. This
will be followed by enlarged Russian- Armenian talks with
participation of all members of Russian and Armenian delegations. The
prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia will also meet with
representatives of mass media.
Within the frameworks of the visit Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian is expected to have also bilateral meetings with some
high-ranking Russian official. During his stay in Moscow the Prime
Minister will visit the “Armenia” pavilion of the Pan-Russian
Exhibition Center and will meet with its director M. Musayev.

Faces of Globalization: Armenian students
By Christine Heath
UPI Correspondent
Published 7/9/2004 6:40 PM
WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) — Walking along the sidewalk surrounding the
Capitol building in Washington, Nune Hovhannisyan and Lusine Tadevosyan want
to complete what they lightheartedly call their picture show.
The two women, born and raised in Armenia, are spending their summer here as
part of an academmic program.
On their way back to work for the Armenian International Policy Research
Group, Lusine, 25, and Nune, 22, strategically position themselves on the
front steps of the symbolic Capitol building, preparing to be photographed.
As the picture is snapped, their faces are proud with an underlying sense of
accomplishment. Both stand ridged and tall, with a sense of how far they
have come from their homeland of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
Armenia, located in Southwestern Asia, just east of Turkey, is a landlocked
country with a population of about 3 million.
After gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country’s
centralized economic structure dilapidated and forced Armenian leaders to
privatize all industries.
Under the old Soviet central planning system, Armenia was able to maintain a
modern industrial manufacturing sector, supplying such things as machine
tools and textiles, to sister republics in exchange for raw materials and
energy.
The break up of the Soviet central planning system and the long conflict
with Muslim Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, the predominantly
Armenian-populated region assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan, contributed to the
severe economic decline in the early 1990s.
Between 1991 and 1993, the gross domestic product dropped by 60 percent.
Factories, with an inadequate fuel supply and an inability sell products,
were forced to close.
“All the plants just closed down and some re-opened, but they needed new
professionals,” Nune explained, now seated at her desk located in the
Armenian Assembly of America.
Nune’s father, who has a formal education in engineering, lost his job in
1993.
After loosing his job at the engineering plant, Nune’s father worked as the
councilor to the head of a trade group.
“It sounds great, but just on the paper … it is a huge complex (group),
but only 1 percent is functioning,” Nune said in accented English.
Nune explains, “a successful businessman privatizes the company. When new
people come, they bring their own team. The complex closed and ever since he
is trying to get a job.”
Nune’s father is financially dependent on family living outside Armenia to
send him money.
Sitting directly to Nune’s left at her own desk, Lusine relates a similar
story.
Her father, also formally educated as an engineer, now drives a taxi.
“Being an engineer you many not have steady work, so they have other jobs.”
In 2001, the unemployment rate topped 20 percent for Armenians.
Lusine also talked about the effect of the war with Azerbaijan, “Blockages
and no energy sources during war make it really hard.”
Armenia suffered chronic energy shortages in the early and mid-1990s.
Even before the war started the only nuclear power plant closed because of
environmental concerns, Lusine explained with a map of Armenia posted
prominently on the wall behind her.
“With no energy supply, how can factory produce?”
The country producing only hydropower at the time, Lusine recalled having
power for a limited two hours a day.
“People got really used to it because they needed to survive. Those were
difficult years, but we survived.”
Lusine added, “My sister was trying to get into medical school; she studied
with a candle. It is an Armenian characteristic, they never suffered the
education for anything.”
The literacy rate for the total population of Armenia is 98.6 percent.
Education has always been important to both Lusine and Nune.
“It was really difficult to get into my institute,” Nune shyly admitted that
600 students applied for 25 places in the economic department at Yerevan
State University.
Upon a successful completion of their undergraduate work, both women decided
to continue their education in the United States.
“When you have an American education it is much easier to find a job. You
have more opportunity in Armenia and elsewhere,” said Lusine.
Nune jumped in, “U.S. education is a passport.”
Lusine and Nune both are in the United States as part of the highly
competitive, merit-based Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program.
Nune, one of the youngest fellows, felt fortunate to be a part of the
prestigious program, “I know people who applied five years.”
The program attempts to ameliorate democracy and economy in Eurasia by
sending young professionals to the United States for a master’s degree level
of education and requires that fellows return home for two years upon
completion of their education.
After the program’s completion, Lusine intends to take full advantage of the
opportunities she has been afforded.
“I got the education not just for fun. I want to use it and get paid, that’s
all I want.”
Lusine and Nune represent a new future for Armenia. The young, educated
professionals will continue to stimulate the economic growth in upcoming
industries like electronics, high technology, agriculture, and
diamond-processing.
The UN estimates that between 1998 and 2000 annual technology-related
exports rose by 25 percent.
Armenia’s gross domestic product was $11.79 billion in 2003. Its per capita
was $3,900 last year.
Armenia is seeing change in its increasing globalization. In January 2003
the country joined the WTO and has recently managed to qualify for
state-to-state funding from the United States through World Bank’s
Millennium Challenge Account.
Over the past ten years, the U.S. government has allocated over $1.4 billion
in U.S. humanitarian, technical, and economic development assistance to
Armenia.
>From under a stack of papers, Lusine pulled out a photocopied March 2004
National Geographic article that featured Armenia.
“I don’t like this article because they make you feel pity on Armenia. You
have to feel pride.”
While in the United States, Lusine takes every opportunity she can to
educate people on the little known Republic of Armenia.
“I am trying to educate people on my country. I learned my history much
better when I came here, which is really long and rich.”
“When they ask, I don’t just say Armenia, I try to give them idea what means
Armenian.”
Faces of Globalization — The above piece by UPI Correspondent Christine
Heath is part 17 of a half-year series by United Press International which
focuses each week on the human face of globalization in locales ranging from
India to the heartland of the United States. The series looks at the complex
array of social and economic issues facing workers, managers, students and
others, who have been affected by the growing worldwide investment, trade
and technological interconnections that have come to be known as
globalization.

Ha’aretz, Israel
July 11 2004
Wall annexes Rachel’s Tomb, imprisons Palestinian families

By Lily Galili

Behlehem resident Fuad Ahmad Jado, surrounded by a wall, hasn’t even
a way out to buy food.

Last Wednesday morning, 10 ultra-Orthodox men sat near Rachel’s Tomb
compound heatedly discussing halakhic (Jewish legal) issues. They
were sitting in a long corridor linking the tomb to a new house,
which until recently was owned by a Palestinian resident of
Bethlehem, who used to rent it to small business owners.
A few months ago the Palestinian sold the building, on Bethlehem’s
main road, to private Israeli buyers. In a short time it was
significantly altered. Its facade, which looked onto the Palestinian
street, was completely sealed and its rear was hastily joined to the
tomb compound. The result is a weird architectural product. The rim
of the pavement adjacent to the original structure is now part of the
interior of the joined building.
The soldiers in charge of security in Rachel’s Tomb live on the
basement floor, which was turned into a barracks. The entrance hall
is an improvised yeshiva. The rooms on the other floors are locked
up, pending renovation. The buyers’ “big plan” is to build a sort of
little settlement in the expanding compound of Rachel’s Tomb.
Former MK Hanan Porat knows a lot about it. “With the help of God we
are progressing toward maintaining a permanent Jewish presence and a
fixed yeshiva in Rachel’s Tomb, as Rabbi Kook urged, and bringing
Israelis back to where they belong.”
The house annexed to the tomb is not the last. In the adjacent
building, on the Palestinian side, a small humus diner is located –
but diners are few, due to the situation. “Blessed is God, we’re
taking care of the humus joint too,” says Porat. “The buyers have
received a good price for it, voluntarily. It’s a private purchase,
without the government’s intervention. All the official bodies in
Israel know about it, but they also know it’s all legal. There are
other lands owned by Jews in the area, on the other side of the
road.”
Asked if the goal is creating a Jewish settlement in this part of
Bethlehem resembling the Jewish settlement in Hebron, Porat says with
a sigh: “Alas, at a later stage and smaller, but yes. It’s time to
renew the meaning of the verse `your children will return to their
own land'”(Jeremiah 31:17).
This verse has been engraved on a wall slate in a little ceremony
inaugurating the new building in the tomb compound. However, the main
road’s official name, once Derech Efrata – the road to Efrat – which
until the intifada was also the main Jerusalem-Hebron road, is now
Yasser Arafat Street. This name is still on the road sign near
Rachel’s Tomb – so the future residents can say their address is
Rachel’s Tomb, corner of Arafat.
Jerusalem’s tomb
Many are waiting in line to move into the house. It will be inhabited
only after the separation wall south of Jerusalem is completed. The
creeping wall has been diverted from its course and will close in on
the expanded tomb compound, turning it into a walled enclave. The
wall bites into about half a kilometer of Bethlehem land, annexing it
to Jerusalem.
“It has never been decided that Rachel’s Tomb will be in C area
(Israeli security and political control),” says Shaul Arieli, a
Geneva Initiative activist. “The interim agreement of September `95
has a clause promising Israel free access to Rachel’s Tomb, but
without giving it the authorities deriving from a C area status. When
they set the borders of Jerusalem, they refrained from annexing
Rachel’s Tomb, because it is located in heart of Bethlehem. Now the
wall is in fact annexing the tomb. The wall in this area was built
during the trauma of the big events in Bethlehem and Beit Jallah. In
the insanity that ensued, the tractors arrived and created faits
accomplis.”
Huge concrete fortifications around Rachel’s Tomb are severing the
main road and writing a new history. The direct road from Jerusalem
to Hebron is no more. Near Rachel’s Tomb the road was blocked with a
high concrete wall built across it. The Palestinians wishing to enter
Bethlehem are directed to a small bypass. The Israelis are led into
the closed tomb enclave in dozens of buses daily (mostly organized
Egged trips accompanied by soldiers). Barrier 300 between Jerusalem
and Bethlehem was diverted toward Bethlehem and in the future it will
become a terminal like the Erez barricade.
The Palestinian businesses on this part of the road, once a bustling
shopping center, closed down because their clients couldn’t get to
them. A handsome sign with the word “Memories” testifies to the
existence of a once popular pub in the city that was once the
Palestinians’ big urban hope. Only a distant memory of that hope
remains. The history of the main road and Bethlehem’s geopolitics are
changing with the help of “contractor Effie Magal,” who is hanging up
his company’s advertisement posters on the wall with professional
pride.
The Palestinian partner to the Geneva Initiative, Yasser Abed Rabu,
cites Rachel’s Tomb to demonstrate that the Israelis are cheating.
Last Tuesday Fuad Ahmad Jado sat at the entrance to his house, near
the Al-Aida refugee camp. His address is hard to define. In the days
before the wall, his power supply came from Jerusalem and his water
from Bethlehem. He didn’t really belong to either, and the high
concrete wall creeping toward his entrance is complicating things.
Middle of nowhere
Jado’s story is a test of the High Court of Justice’s ruling on the
separation fence. His tale demonstrates that the “proportionality”
the court spoke of is like an “enlightened occupation.” Three
families live in the compound with Jado. The wall will make their
life impossible. Are three families, in the middle of nowhere, enough
to weigh against the security needs? Is the fact that Jado recently
had a heart attack, after a clash with the border police, and is now
facing open heart surgery, a matter to be considered? Jado, 47, who
speaks fluent Hebrew, believes it is.
In the relentless 36-degree heat, Jado pulls all the documents of his
history from orderly files. Order is second nature to the man who
worked for years in Israel’s licensing office in Jerusalem. One of
the permits, given his grandfather Ayub Hassan Jado in July 1978,
states explicitly: “this man was registered in the population
registry in 1967 and registered in form 049556. The place is within
Jerusalem’s jurisdiction.”
As proof Jado pulls out arnona (city rate) payment forms he received
from Jerusalem’s municipality and never paid. Does this prove he is a
true Jerusalemite?
Not really. On April 27, 2003, another permit was issued for Jado, on
which he was informed in red print that he belongs to Bethlehem. “An
officer who wasn’t born yet when my grandfather was a citizen of
Jerusalem came and informed me that I wasn’t a Jerusalemite,” Jado
says cynically.
The story does not end here. In recent months senior border police
officers came to Jado’s house, examined it and left. Then came an
officer from the military authorities and informed him, “you belong
to Jerusalem again.” They did not come again. As a Jerusalem citizen,
Jado is prohibited from entering Bethlehem, but also from entering
Jerusalem, because nobody issued him a permit to do so. Jado is
sitting on the land his family has lived on for 60 years and does not
belong anywhere. He has to sneak illegally to his medical tests in
East Jerusalem’s Al-Makassed Hospital.
The wall being built on his doorstep will imprison him within it,
with no way out in any direction. In the original plan, the wall was
supposed to pass west of his house, leaving it in Bethlehem. But as
his luck would have it, the house is near an Armenian monastery and
the monks did not want the wall to separate them from their real
estate property in the area. Unlike Jado, they have power and
connections and the fence route was diverted accordingly.
Now Jado is imprisoned within the wall. Once it is completed, it is
not even clear how he will be able to buy his family food. “Maybe
they’ll put up a supermarket here just for me,” he quips. “But what
if I need an ambulance, or fire fighters? How will they get here?”
Two months ago fire broke out in the Armenian monastery, which was
empty at the time. Jado called a monk who called the fire fighters.
It took the fire trucks two hours to reach the monastery from
Bethlehem, from a distance of two minutes away, because it had to go
through the road block instead of directly. Since then Jado is
worried about needing emergency treatment.
The big plan is clear to him. Israel intends to make his life
intolerable, in order to drive him from his land. About six months
ago a senior border police officer ordered him to move out. Jado
replied that in a state of law a resident cannot just be ordered out.
“Bring a document,” he told the officer, who did not return. Someone
suggested he petition the High Court of Justice. “Stop talking
nonsense,” he says. “I live in this country. The Shin Bet and police
run it. I would only lose money.”

Azeri pundit slams USA for aiding Karabakh
Zerkalo, Baku
6 Jul 04

An Azeri political scientist has criticized the decision of a US
Congress subcommittee to allocate aid to the disputed territory of
Nagornyy Karabakh. Vafa Quluzada told Azerbaijani daily Zerkalo: “The
allocation of 5m dollars to terrorists in Nagornyy Karabakh is the
equivalent of the Azerbaijani parliament collecting a similar sum to
be sent to Usamah Bin-Ladin as aid to ‘religious brothers’.” Quluzada
said that Azerbaijan should keep to its pro-Western policy, but take a
“principled stance” towards its friends. He said that in the media and
at international summits Azerbaijan should tirelessly criticize Russia
for “being the author of the Armenian aggression and America for not
condemning this aggression”. The following is the text of
M. Yasaroglu’s report in Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on 6 July
headlined “You should sometimes slap friends” and subheaded “Political
scientist Vafa Quluzada sees the USA and Russia among our friends”;
subheadings inserted editorially:
The allocation of 5m dollars to the separatist regime in Nagornyy
Karabakh by the US Congress has not surprised ordinary Azerbaijanis,
as we have long ago got used to the fact that “friends of Azerbaijan”
regard this friendship as a one-way street.
USA is no good friend of Azerbaijan
Despite the considerable distance between Azerbaijan and Iraq, we
support the anti-terrorist coalition for the friendship with the USA;
we implement the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, giving out our
interest rates to other friends of the USA, Georgia; we mourn with the
Americans, condemning the terrorist attacks in New York and so on. And
in exchange, we receive humanitarian aid, lots of statements about
support for democracy, which is often sacrificed to oil interests, the
rousing of “expectations” that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict will
be settled peacefully and that’s it. In addition, financial aid
systematically goes to our territories which remain under occupation
without serious objections from the USA, and this aid increases every
year.
USA disregards Azerbaijan’s sovereignty
It is interesting that when Azerbaijani officials make rare attempts
to oppose it and express their negative attitude to this, the USA
replies with terse phrases, the essence of which means the following:
“we do what we want to do”.
The recent statement by US ambassador Reno Harnish is one of the
answers of this sort. Commenting on the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s
statement on the draft law adopted by a house subcommittee on
allocating 5m dollars to Nagornyy Karabakh, Harnish said that specific
figures had not been endorsed yet. This is a “preliminary” figure, he
said. This proposal can be endorsed only after joint discussion at the
Senate and House of Representatives.
It seems that the ambassador acted against his conscience here. As an
experienced diplomat, he certainly understands that the question is
not about the sum of the aid, but about the allocation of this aid
that shows vividly the mite that the White House contributes, OK then,
intends to contribute, to the flourishing of the separatist regime in
Nagornyy Karabakh.
According to Harnish, the USA renders assistance to the victims of
conflicts, irrespective of where they are. He said it is planned to
allocate 13m dollars in aid to the Azerbaijani victims of the
conflict. He said he had a conversation with the foreign minister and
is aware of official Baku’s position.
It turns out from the aforementioned statement, in which Harnish
unsuccessfully tried to justify “the world’s policeman”, that this
“tender-heartedness” gives them the right to render assistance to the
terrorists in Nagornyy Karabakh, who by the way are an integral part
of international terrorism, only because they allegedly suffered. We
wonder what would be the United States’ reaction if the state of Texas
had revolted and Azerbaijan had backed the revolt on various pretexts,
calling its deeds “restoration of communications” or something else?
We think there would be a negative reaction, as such a policy actually
proves disrespect for the country’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
US aid to Karabakh is like Azerbaijan helping Bin-Ladin
The former state adviser, political expert Vafa Quluzada, who is noted
for his pro-Western stance, has commented for the Zerkalo newspaper on
this step by the White House. In our view, his opinion can be regarded
as the position of most of the Azerbaijani public on the rendering of
aid to the Karabakh separatists.
“The US Congress is preparing to give 5m dollars to terrorists, who
are to blame for the Xocali tragedy, mass killings, numerous blasts on
public transport, the list is endless. The separatists of Nagornyy
Karabakh are citizens of Azerbaijan who rose against their own
state. Showing no remorse, the USA breaks international law and the UN
Charter for the only reason that they are a great power which does
what it wants to do. I do not know what causes this policy – Christian
sympathies or the fact that the Armenian lobby is among other lobbies
governing the USA. I think that the allocation of 5m dollars to
terrorists in Nagornyy Karabakh is the equivalent of the Azerbaijani
parliament collecting a similar sum to be sent to Usamah Bin-Ladin as
aid to ‘religious brothers’. A similar sum can be allocated to anyone
who is fighting against the USA today,” Quluzada said.
However, he said, it should be taken into account that Arab terrorists
caused less damage to the USA than Armenians did to us. “Bin-Ladin
blew up the World Trade Centre and a couple of US embassies in
different countries, whereas Armenia together with Nagornyy Karabakh,
having Russia behind it, razed to the ground 20 per cent of our
territories – 1,500 towns and villages. As a result, there are one
million Azeri refugees who were subjected to ethnic cleansing. The
USA turns a blind eye to this. How can one call it a super power, the
stronghold of freedom, and a guarantor of independence and human
rights?” Quluzada said.
Azerbaijan should show principled stance
The pro-Western way is the only way to prosperity and development for
Azerbaijan, he said. But on the other hand, one should show a
principled position to one’s friends: “If a friend insults you, you
should give him a slap.”
“No-one wants to give anyone a slap” in our country, he said. Not even
to slap Moscow, whose soldiers and officers were taken captive by our
troops during the war in Nagornyy Karabakh. Quluzada said that for the
sake of friendship with Moscow we should not turn a blind eye to the
fact that Moscow was the main player in the occupation of our
territories: “Armenia would have not dared to do it on its own.”
Quluzada said that while we keep to this model of friendship, we will
be treated the way we are being treated now.
And how can we slap Moscow or Washington? Quluzada said that the
Azerbaijani leadership should tirelessly publicly criticize the
leadership of countries which pursue this policy towards us. This
should be covered by all TV channels and media, including foreign
ones. The president should voice his position regarding this at all
international summits and all meetings he takes part in. “We should
criticize Russia for being the author of the Armenian aggression and
America for not condemning this aggression,” Quluzada said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress