ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
November 25, 2004
VOLARE: SODDU, MIE DENUNCE IN CDA NON VENIVANO VERBALIZZATE (2)
MILANO
(ANSA) – MILANO, 25 NOV – L’ aumento di capitale di marzo
realizzato da Volare, e’ stata la ricostruzione dell’ ex
amministratore Vincenzo Soddu, ha portato nelle casse della
societa’ “solo 80 milioni di euro, rispetto ai 135 milioni
necessari, di cui 100 di capitale e 35 di nuove linee di
credito”.
Le difficolta’ finanziarie della societa’ “erano ben note a
tutti – ha detto – ed erano sorte dall’ acquisizione di
AirEurope, dall’ 11 settembre, dall’ incidente di Linate, dal
fallimento di Swiss Air, dalla guerra in Iraq e via dicendo”.
Con l’ aumento di marzo e’ entrato nella societa’ l’
imprenditore armeno-argentino Edouardo Eurnekian, con il 38,6%
del capitale. “Prima della firma gli argentini chiesero che
fossero rinegoziati 142 milioni di debiti con i fornitori – ha
spiegato Soddu – cosa che fu fatta dal management dando tre anni
di respiro alla societa’. L’ accordo pero’ doveva essere
rispettato con il pagamento dei debiti correnti e soprattutto
dei contratti di leasing”.
“Con me sono sempre stati pagati gli stipendi, i leasing.
Com’e che sono arrivati a non pagare i leasing?”, e’ stata la
difesa di Soddu, che si ritiene oggetto di un “linciaggio
mediatico”.
Circa i dubbi sulla correttezza dei bilanci 2003 (c’e in
corso un’ indagine della magistratura di Busto Arsizio, ma non
risulta siano state formalizzate delle contestazioni), “nell’
agosto di quest’ anno e’ stato approvato sotto la presidenza di
Giorgio Fossa lo stato patrimoniale delle due societa’ operative
seguendo gli stessi principi contabili applicati al
31.12.2003”, ha detto Soddu. Non e’ mancato poi il riferimento
all’ indagine di Kpmg sui bilanci degli ultimi tre anni della
societa’: “bisogna chiarire come mai Kpmg si sveglia ad ottobre
e decide che quei principi contabili non vanno bene”.
Soddu, infine, ha detto di aver chiesto piu’ volte ai
magistrati di essere ascoltato. “Ho tutte le carte per
dimostrare quello che sto dicendo”, ha spiegato. Il dirigente,
che ha lasciato Volare a luglio, ha poi sottolineato la
validita’ dell’ azienda, ricordando che nei primi mesi del 2004
e stato registrato un utile operativo di 8,8 milioni, contro
una previsione a budget di perdite a livello di ebit per 6
milioni. Sulla semestrale hanno poi gravato 10 milioni di oneri
finanziari.

Baku says NATO role in Karabakh possible
Nov 26 2004 3:26PM
BAKU. Nov 26 (Interfax-Azerbaijan) – The Azerbaijani authorities said
that NATO may play a role in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“NATO’s participation in resolving the conflict may become possible. In
our opinion, using this organization’s resources would be helpful,”
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told a workshop
organized by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Baku on Friday.

PROBLEMS OF FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
26 Nov 04
On November 13 a round table was held in Nagorni Karabakh on the
problems of former prisoners of war. Representatives of governmental
bodies and public organizations took part in it. On November 23 the
participants of the round table applied to the NKR government and
society to assist to taking measures for rehabilitation of former
POWs and hostages, establishing cooperation between governmental and
non-governmental bodies for providing medical, social and psychological
aid to these citizens, including programs on their psychological
rehabilitation at different levels of budgets. The exact number of the
former prisoners and hostages in Nagorni Karabakh is not known. It
is only known that in the first post-war years thousands of POWs
and hostages were exchanged and returned home, who had been retained
both in prisons and by private persons. Six political prisoners were
sentenced to death by the Azerbaijani court. The bodies of two of them
were reburied in Karabakh, the others, according to the Azerbaijani
side, are buried in the cemetery of the prison and their exact tombs
are not known. In the past few years there have been no cases of
exchanging or returning prisoners and hostages captured before the
cease-fire in 1994.
AA.
26-11-2004

PALESTINE WITHOUT ARAFAT. IMMINENT STORM IN DESERT?
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
26 Nov 04
Recently the burning issue in the world has been the state of health
of Arafat who deceased on November 11. And it is natural because
for decades this man was the unchanging and well-known leader of
the Palestinian people and his death will have a great influence not
only on Palestine but also the entire Near East. The reason of this
close connection between Palestine and its leader is that Arafat was
not merely the head of autonomy but the charismatic leader of its
people. The death of such a leader usually creates a kind of vacuum
which is refilled either very slowly or never. It is especially
difficult for the countries and people who are either at war or in a
crucial stage of development. Palestine was passing through such a
stage. And because of the fact that the Palestinian problem is related
to the Arab-Israel rather than the Palestine-Israel relationships, on
the whole it has a considerable effect on the political situation in
the Near East. Today, taking into account the increasing influence of
international terrorism, it is not favourable for anyone, especially
the main figures in the region and particularly the USA. To get a
complete idea of the role of Arafat for the Palestinians, it would be
proper to cast a look at his biography. First, it should be mentioned
that there are a number of contradicting facts in his biography which,
by the way, the leader never denied or confirmed, thus creating a
mysterious myth around his name. Yassir Arafat was born on August 24,
1929 in Jerusalem, in the family of salesman Abdel Rauf who worked in
the police of the Ottoman empire in his youth. His wife Zakhva belonged
to the famous family Abu Saud in Jerusalem. The complete name of Arafat
is Muhammad Abdel Rauf Arafat al-Kudva al-Huseini. Later at college
he took the name â~@~Yassirâ~@~] which means â~@~carefreeâ~@~]. In
1933 Arafatâ~@~Ys mother died and his father, unable to bring up his
children alone, sent 4-years-old Yassir and his younger brother to
their uncle in Jerusalem. Three years later Abdel Rauf married for
the second time and brought the children back to him, where Yassir
stayed until his adolescence. His first steps into politics bear
the traces of the valley of Nile. In the years of his studies he was
close with the â~@~Brother Muslimsâ~@~] although he did not belong to
them. He was engaged in military training organized by the Islamists
in the territory of the University of Cairo. As an orthodox Muslim
he prayed 5 times a day, did not use alcohol and fasted in the holy
month of Ramadan. The â~@~brothersâ~@~] were alone to appeal to
continue jihad against Israel. Among them he met his future brothers
in arms Abu Ayad, Abu Jihad, and many others. There was one who
interested him; it was Gamal Abdel Nassir who had dethroned King
Pharuk of Egypt among the group â~@~Free Officersâ~@~] . Arafat
was also persecuted. In 1954 he was arrested for a short period.
Three years later, with the diploma of an engineer in his pocket,
Arafat left for Kuwait. Here the national liberation movement was
being born in the face of several rebels who had no munitions and
were 1200 km away from the front line. Once in the evening (in
1958) five persons gathered secretly in the capital of the emirate
and decided to start a war for the liberation of Palestine. In the
beginning they issued a newspaper â~@~Phalastinunaâ~@~] (â~@~Our
Palestineâ~@~]). A year later they named themselves â~@~Phathaâ~@~]
which means â~@~Movement for Liberation of Palestineâ~@~] and finally
they chose military names for themselves. According to the Arabian
tradition, they use the name of their elder son, but Yassir Arafat,
still a bachelor, became â~@~Abu Ammarâ~@~]. As distinct from Arabian
nationalists they did not anticipate anything from the existing regimes
which were, in their opinion, exhausted. All of them had got education
in Cairo or Beirut, at one time they believed in Islamists, had been
in prison. However, in their small group Yassir Arafat held a special
position. At the time of the disaster in 1948, unlike his friends,
he had been away from the homeland and did not know what expatriate
meant or what refugee camps were. His revolutionary romanticism
was nourished by abstract ideas about Palestine, his wish to create
an independent state was not related to a particular plot of land,
and suffering was a collective one. Many years later this devotion
made him easier in reference to making compromises in territorial
questions. On April 1, 1965 an unknown organization â~@~Al Asifaâ~@~]
(â~@~Stormâ~@~]) assumed the responsibility for the blast in the
pumping station in Israel. Arafat had chosen this name for signing
the information on the military actions. The message in handwriting
sent to the newspapers of Beirut caused surprise. Whereas, the action
that Arafat ascribed to himself had not taken place for the group
which had to put explosives had been arrested by the security bodies
of Lebanon. The bloodshed had started already. The guerillas took
action by action against the Jewish state. After the war in 1967 Arafat
left for the west bank of the river Jordan. He hid from persecution
for several months and tried to organize the local population but
soon he had to leave for the other occupied bank of Jordan. In the
capital of Jordan Amman they challenged the court every day. Arafat
strengthened by victories became the leader of the Organization for
Liberation of Palestine. The organization founded by Naser in 1964
with the hope of trying to control Palestinian nationalism avoided
the Arab influence. The radical groups, including the Peopleâ~@~Ys
Front of Liberation of Palestine announces themselves by hijacking
planes. On September 6, 1970 the air pirates hijacked three airplanes
and made them land in the northern outskirt of Amman. This event
exhausted the patience of the northern king and he decided to
return his power through force. His well-armed troops easily won and
Yassir Arafat managed to escape. The Palestinian soldiers craved for
revenge. Several members of â~@~Phathaâ~@~] who called themselves
â~@~ Black Septemberâ~@~] (in the memory of the tragic events of
September) organized terrorist actions one after another. During the
Olympic games in Munchen 1972 one of the groups attacked the Israelite
delegation; several people died. Yassir Arafat insisted that he had
no connection with this terrorist action but he was aware of the
terrorist plans of his people and for the first time he preferred to
concede the main role to others. He was a very prudent person. In
1974 Arafat who was known internationally separated himself from
terrorism. At the UN General Assembly he announced that he held the
gun in one hand and the laurel branch in the other and begged not to
let him lose the branch. Soon Arafat was banished from Jordan and
found a refuge in Lebanon where his appearance aggravated tensions
among the Maronit, Sunni, Shiite and Drooz communities. On April 13,
1975 war burst out in the country. Everyone fought, the progressives
against the conservatives, Christians against Muslims, clans against
other clans. The country was torn to parts, and bandits took the power
in severed Beirut. The leader of the Organization for Liberation
of Palestine got easily adapted to this chaotic situation. Owing
to the generous assistance of the countries of the Persian Gulf he
became the leader of one of the large companies, directed hospitals,
newspapers, factories, schoolsâ~@¦ his military and economic power
and later his diplomatic success finally started to worry Israel. On
June 6, 1952 the Israeli army attacked Lebanon. The defence minister
then Ariel Sharon secretly from his government planned destroying the
Organization for Liberation of Palestine. The siege of Beirut lasted
for 12 weeks and during this period the Israeli planes scrutinized
for the leader of Palestine, while the American diplomats negotiated
for the withdrawal of guerillas. At the end of August Arafat left
Lebanon. The president of Tunisia Habib Burgiba confessed that he was
ready to accept Arafat but alone, without his groups. The latter were
â~@~ dissolvedâ~@~] in the Arab world. The new life began outside
the homeland. In order not to lose the control over the situation
in November of 1988 he achieved the division of the Holy Land into
two parts. The aid rendered to Saddam Hussein during the war in the
Persian Gulf crushed his peacemaking efforts depriving him of the
sums paid by the large oil companies. After the defeat of Iraq the
diplomatic process was resumed and this time the conditions were
dictated by the USA. The Organization for Liberation of Palestine
on the verge of bankruptcy and isolation was formally left out of
the list of participants in the peace talks in Madrid. However, soon
Arafat managed to save the Organization and achieved the longed-for
international recognition. Soon he became the chairman of the National
Administration and was even awarded the Nobel Peace prize. In June
2000 an agreement was signed in Camp David and the Palestinians made
compromises but soon the prime minister of Israel E. Barak announced
that it is impossible to achieve peace with Arafat. Later there was
an opportunity to sign a new agreement but it was late. With Ariel
Sharon terrorist actions started and the situation became inadequate
for signing a peace agreement. Yassir Arafat remained in Ramallah and
in 2002 George Bush called him politically dead. It was the reason why
during the elections in the USA Arafat openly supported the opponent
of Bush Senator Kerry. To accelerate the leave of Arafat from politics
the USA imposed on him the prime minister Mahmud Abas who was made by
Arafat to resign however. And up to the end he remained at the head of
the political games in Palestine. Yassir Arafat died without naming his
heir. In this situation it is natural that a struggle should begin for
power in Palestine. Most experts say he will be succeeded by either
Mahmud Abas or Ahmed Kurei. Both are mature people but their Tunisian
background will hardly be respected among the common people. Pharuk
Kadumi also has serious levers of influence, who replaced Arafat
as the head of â~@~Phathaâ~@~]. Serious struggle for power is
expected in Palestine. By the way, Kadumi was among the first to
announce about this. He stated that those who think he will resign
are mistaken. And the attempt to kill Mahmud Abas during the funeral
of Arafat testifies to the fact that the open struggle has already
started even before the leader was buried. Of course, it cannot be
denied that Palestine could have changed the power in comparatively
stable and quiet conditions. And if it is the case Palestine will
prove to the world that they are ready to have their own state.
DAVIT BABAYAN. 25-11-2004
–Boundary_(ID_AmynRZ0T8p04IWbIFekf/A)–

Baku says NATO role in Karabakh possible
Interfax
Nov 26 2004
BAKU. Nov 26 (Interfax-Azerbaijan) – The Azerbaijani authorities said
that NATO may play a role in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“NATO’s participation in resolving the conflict may become possible.
In our opinion, using this organization’s resources would be helpful,”
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told a workshop
organized by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Baku on Friday.

Azeri authorities shifting “propaganda” spending from papers to TV – daily
Azadliq, Baku
26 Nov 04
Text of Matlab report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 26
November headlined “The authorities are preparing to dispose of the
‘excessive burden'” and subheaded “Money spent on some newspapers
will be channelled into TV stations. Newspaper editors are to find
patrons among affluent state officials”
In the wake of the 1998 presidential election, the Azerbaijani
government took under its wing a number of opposition and independent
newspapers. They also created numerous other newspapers. During
the 2000 parliamentary election, the government possessed around 10
“independent” newspapers, but did not stop at that and continued the
process until the 2003 presidential election.
Those newspapers were given bizarre names, had offices equipped
with new technologies and were well-funded. There was a directive
to display those newspapers at the front of the state-owned kiosks,
along with the state-run newspapers. Only one thing was wanted
from the “independent” newspapers in return for all these favours:
“Produce quality newspapers, brief the public on the government’s
achievements efficiently and seek to erode the public’s support for
the opposition.” However, the newspapers did not live up to these
expectations. This means that the existence of those newspapers has
only resulted in a waste of money.
Apparently, the government ideologues are unwilling to continue their
policy of wasting money. In the near future, some pro-government
newspapers which did not live up to the expectations will have their
funding cut, according to a report that we have received from a source
within the authorities. The preliminary list of those newspapers
includes Palitra, Paritet, Kaspiy and Azad Azarbaycan. Reportedly, the
editors of those newspapers have already been told that the funding
will stop. The ideologues do not want the newspapers to close down
and so advised the editors to resolve the issue on their own. The
editors were advised to apply to various affluent state officials
and to continue their work under their patronage.
It is said that since Markaz, Hafta Ici, Bizim Asr and Xalq Cabhasi
newspapers are sponsored by certain people and act as mouthpieces
of certain state officials, their publication is not expected to
stop. Despite their lack of readership, Sas newspaper, which was
the first to defend [the late President] Heydar Aliyev, and Yeni
Azarbaycan newspaper, which is the organ of the NAP [the ruling New
Azerbaijan Party], will always be supported by the ruling elite.
The source also said that the ideologues want to channel the money
previously spent on newspapers which are no longer wanted into private
TV stations that are directly controlled by the authorities. It is
said that reporters at those TV stations have always disliked the
fact that they are paid less than the correspondents of the aforesaid
newspapers. Taking this into account, the government pundits want to
spend the money allocated for the mass media on TV stations that are
a more effective tool of propaganda.

Baku, Rome sign joint declaration
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 26 2004
Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver arrived in
Baku on Thursday as part of her tour of the South Caucasus region.
The Italian diplomat met with President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister
Artur Rasizada and Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov. Boniver
and her Azerbaijani counterpart Khalafov discussed issues related to
prospects for cooperation, expanding participation of Italian companies
in Azerbaijan’s energy and non-oil sector, as well as the situation
with the settlement of the Upper Garabagh conflict. In conclusion of
the discussions, the Azerbaijani and Italian deputy foreign ministers
signed a joint declaration on a consultative forum on economic issues.*

ITU unable to prevent illegal activity of Garabagh Telecom
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 26 2004
Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), visited Baku on Thursday to attend a conference on global
information communication technologies.
Utsumi told a news conference that he has come to Baku for the first
time and that the priority activities of the ITU, which has been
operating for over 140 years include standardization of technologies,
distribution of frequencies and regulation of related issues.
Asked about the existing problems related to the illegal activity of
the Garabagh Telecom Company in Upper Garabagh, Utsumi said that the
Union has no special mechanism to address the problem and that any
decisions are made after they are agreed upon by the ITU member states.
“ITU coordinates relationship among member countries but does not
adopt any political decisions,” Utsumi added.*

Du Toit gets 34 years’ jail for Guinea coup plot
By Raymond Whitaker in Cape Town
The Independent – United Kingdom
Nov 27, 2004
A COURT in Equatorial Guinea found Nick du Toit, a South African
former special forces soldier, guilty of a plot to overthrow the
President of the oil-rich country and sentenced him to 34 years
in prison yesterday. Sir Mark Thatcher and several other prominent
Britons have been implicated in the failed coup attempt.
Prosecutors in Equatorial Guinea had sought the death penalty for du
Toit, who confessed to leading an advance guard for the abortive coup
before retracting his statement, saying he had been tortured. Four
other South Africans and six Armenian aircrew were jailed for long
terms.
The collapse in March of the plan to oust Equatorial Guinea’s
President, Teodoro Obiang, and replace him with an opposition
politician in return for lucrative oil contracts has led to criminal
trials in three countries.
Simon Mann, an Old Etonian former SAS officer has been jailed for
seven years in Zimbabwe for illegal arms buying, along with more
than 60 South Africans who were intercepted at Harare airport while
allegedly on their way to Equatorial Guinea.
South Africa’s elite Scorpions detective unit arrested Sir Mark in
August and charged him with helping to finance the plot, but this week
the case was postponed until April to give investigators more time.
Lawyers acting for President Obiang were due to question Sir Mark
yesterday on his alleged part in the affair, but a Cape Town magistrate
agreed to defer the issue while he seeks leave to appeal.

PALESTINE WITHOUT ARAFAT. IMMINENT STORM IN DESERT?
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
26 Nov 04
Recently the burning issue in the world has been the state of health
of Arafat who deceased on November 11. And it is natural because
for decades this man was the unchanging and well-known leader of
the Palestinian people and his death will have a great influence not
only on Palestine but also the entire Near East. The reason of this
close connection between Palestine and its leader is that Arafat was
not merely the head of autonomy but the charismatic leader of its
people. The death of such a leader usually creates a kind of vacuum
which is refilled either very slowly or never. It is especially
difficult for the countries and people who are either at war or in a
crucial stage of development. Palestine was passing through such a
stage. And because of the fact that the Palestinian problem is related
to the Arab-Israel rather than the Palestine-Israel relationships, on
the whole it has a considerable effect on the political situation in
the Near East. Today, taking into account the increasing influence of
international terrorism, it is not favourable for anyone, especially
the main figures in the region and particularly the USA. To get a
complete idea of the role of Arafat for the Palestinians, it would be
proper to cast a look at his biography. First, it should be mentioned
that there are a number of contradicting facts in his biography which,
by the way, the leader never denied or confirmed, thus creating a
mysterious myth around his name. Yassir Arafat was born on August 24,
1929 in Jerusalem, in the family of salesman Abdel Rauf who worked in
the police of the Ottoman empire in his youth. His wife Zakhva belonged
to the famous family Abu Saud in Jerusalem. The complete name of Arafat
is Muhammad Abdel Rauf Arafat al-Kudva al-Huseini. Later at college
he took the name â~@~Yassirâ~@~] which means â~@~carefreeâ~@~]. In
1933 Arafatâ~@~Ys mother died and his father, unable to bring up his
children alone, sent 4-years-old Yassir and his younger brother to
their uncle in Jerusalem. Three years later Abdel Rauf married for
the second time and brought the children back to him, where Yassir
stayed until his adolescence. His first steps into politics bear
the traces of the valley of Nile. In the years of his studies he was
close with the â~@~Brother Muslimsâ~@~] although he did not belong to
them. He was engaged in military training organized by the Islamists
in the territory of the University of Cairo. As an orthodox Muslim
he prayed 5 times a day, did not use alcohol and fasted in the holy
month of Ramadan. The â~@~brothersâ~@~] were alone to appeal to
continue jihad against Israel. Among them he met his future brothers
in arms Abu Ayad, Abu Jihad, and many others. There was one who
interested him; it was Gamal Abdel Nassir who had dethroned King
Pharuk of Egypt among the group â~@~Free Officersâ~@~] . Arafat
was also persecuted. In 1954 he was arrested for a short period.
Three years later, with the diploma of an engineer in his pocket,
Arafat left for Kuwait. Here the national liberation movement was
being born in the face of several rebels who had no munitions and
were 1200 km away from the front line. Once in the evening (in
1958) five persons gathered secretly in the capital of the emirate
and decided to start a war for the liberation of Palestine. In the
beginning they issued a newspaper â~@~Phalastinunaâ~@~] (â~@~Our
Palestineâ~@~]). A year later they named themselves â~@~Phathaâ~@~]
which means â~@~Movement for Liberation of Palestineâ~@~] and finally
they chose military names for themselves. According to the Arabian
tradition, they use the name of their elder son, but Yassir Arafat,
still a bachelor, became â~@~Abu Ammarâ~@~]. As distinct from Arabian
nationalists they did not anticipate anything from the existing regimes
which were, in their opinion, exhausted. All of them had got education
in Cairo or Beirut, at one time they believed in Islamists, had been
in prison. However, in their small group Yassir Arafat held a special
position. At the time of the disaster in 1948, unlike his friends,
he had been away from the homeland and did not know what expatriate
meant or what refugee camps were. His revolutionary romanticism
was nourished by abstract ideas about Palestine, his wish to create
an independent state was not related to a particular plot of land,
and suffering was a collective one. Many years later this devotion
made him easier in reference to making compromises in territorial
questions. On April 1, 1965 an unknown organization â~@~Al Asifaâ~@~]
(â~@~Stormâ~@~]) assumed the responsibility for the blast in the
pumping station in Israel. Arafat had chosen this name for signing
the information on the military actions. The message in handwriting
sent to the newspapers of Beirut caused surprise. Whereas, the action
that Arafat ascribed to himself had not taken place for the group
which had to put explosives had been arrested by the security bodies
of Lebanon. The bloodshed had started already. The guerillas took
action by action against the Jewish state. After the war in 1967 Arafat
left for the west bank of the river Jordan. He hid from persecution
for several months and tried to organize the local population but
soon he had to leave for the other occupied bank of Jordan. In the
capital of Jordan Amman they challenged the court every day. Arafat
strengthened by victories became the leader of the Organization for
Liberation of Palestine. The organization founded by Naser in 1964
with the hope of trying to control Palestinian nationalism avoided
the Arab influence. The radical groups, including the Peopleâ~@~Ys
Front of Liberation of Palestine announces themselves by hijacking
planes. On September 6, 1970 the air pirates hijacked three airplanes
and made them land in the northern outskirt of Amman. This event
exhausted the patience of the northern king and he decided to
return his power through force. His well-armed troops easily won and
Yassir Arafat managed to escape. The Palestinian soldiers craved for
revenge. Several members of â~@~Phathaâ~@~] who called themselves
â~@~ Black Septemberâ~@~] (in the memory of the tragic events of
September) organized terrorist actions one after another. During the
Olympic games in Munchen 1972 one of the groups attacked the Israelite
delegation; several people died. Yassir Arafat insisted that he had
no connection with this terrorist action but he was aware of the
terrorist plans of his people and for the first time he preferred to
concede the main role to others. He was a very prudent person. In
1974 Arafat who was known internationally separated himself from
terrorism. At the UN General Assembly he announced that he held the
gun in one hand and the laurel branch in the other and begged not to
let him lose the branch. Soon Arafat was banished from Jordan and
found a refuge in Lebanon where his appearance aggravated tensions
among the Maronit, Sunni, Shiite and Drooz communities. On April 13,
1975 war burst out in the country. Everyone fought, the progressives
against the conservatives, Christians against Muslims, clans against
other clans. The country was torn to parts, and bandits took the power
in severed Beirut. The leader of the Organization for Liberation
of Palestine got easily adapted to this chaotic situation. Owing
to the generous assistance of the countries of the Persian Gulf he
became the leader of one of the large companies, directed hospitals,
newspapers, factories, schoolsâ~@¦ his military and economic power
and later his diplomatic success finally started to worry Israel. On
June 6, 1952 the Israeli army attacked Lebanon. The defence minister
then Ariel Sharon secretly from his government planned destroying the
Organization for Liberation of Palestine. The siege of Beirut lasted
for 12 weeks and during this period the Israeli planes scrutinized
for the leader of Palestine, while the American diplomats negotiated
for the withdrawal of guerillas. At the end of August Arafat left
Lebanon. The president of Tunisia Habib Burgiba confessed that he was
ready to accept Arafat but alone, without his groups. The latter were
â~@~ dissolvedâ~@~] in the Arab world. The new life began outside
the homeland. In order not to lose the control over the situation
in November of 1988 he achieved the division of the Holy Land into
two parts. The aid rendered to Saddam Hussein during the war in the
Persian Gulf crushed his peacemaking efforts depriving him of the
sums paid by the large oil companies. After the defeat of Iraq the
diplomatic process was resumed and this time the conditions were
dictated by the USA. The Organization for Liberation of Palestine
on the verge of bankruptcy and isolation was formally left out of
the list of participants in the peace talks in Madrid. However, soon
Arafat managed to save the Organization and achieved the longed-for
international recognition. Soon he became the chairman of the National
Administration and was even awarded the Nobel Peace prize. In June
2000 an agreement was signed in Camp David and the Palestinians made
compromises but soon the prime minister of Israel E. Barak announced
that it is impossible to achieve peace with Arafat. Later there was
an opportunity to sign a new agreement but it was late. With Ariel
Sharon terrorist actions started and the situation became inadequate
for signing a peace agreement. Yassir Arafat remained in Ramallah and
in 2002 George Bush called him politically dead. It was the reason why
during the elections in the USA Arafat openly supported the opponent
of Bush Senator Kerry. To accelerate the leave of Arafat from politics
the USA imposed on him the prime minister Mahmud Abas who was made by
Arafat to resign however. And up to the end he remained at the head of
the political games in Palestine. Yassir Arafat died without naming his
heir. In this situation it is natural that a struggle should begin for
power in Palestine. Most experts say he will be succeeded by either
Mahmud Abas or Ahmed Kurei. Both are mature people but their Tunisian
background will hardly be respected among the common people. Pharuk
Kadumi also has serious levers of influence, who replaced Arafat
as the head of â~@~Phathaâ~@~]. Serious struggle for power is
expected in Palestine. By the way, Kadumi was among the first to
announce about this. He stated that those who think he will resign
are mistaken. And the attempt to kill Mahmud Abas during the funeral
of Arafat testifies to the fact that the open struggle has already
started even before the leader was buried. Of course, it cannot be
denied that Palestine could have changed the power in comparatively
stable and quiet conditions. And if it is the case Palestine will
prove to the world that they are ready to have their own state.
DAVIT BABAYAN. 25-11-2004
–Boundary_(ID_yd+lF6jQkagQahNF2iLHBg)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress