50TH "ANNIVERSARY" YEAR:

"We will come to London because we feel London is a place we should give an opportunity to, that it will add to the American efforts, it will provide new venues and I hope new will, particularly armed with the success of the Irish peace process. We think he (Tony Blair) has the momentum and he has also the will which he showed very clearly to our leadership... Will he be able to succeed? That depends a lot on Mr. Netanyahu, I believe..." 
 

Nabil Sha'ath -
"Minister" for International 
Cooperation in the "PA"

MER - Washington - 4/23:
How ironic...and disgusting. Fifty years after the British retreated from Palestine, leaving it in chaos and civil war, and 80 years after their Foreign Minister, Lord Balfour, declared the then British protectorate ripe for a Jewish homeland -- though nothing was supposed to be done to "prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine" -- the regime of Yasser Arafat is handing out Union Jack flags to the children of today's Palestinian reservations -- the "autonomous" population centers that remain -- and stumbling all over itself to welcome the Brits back! 

The Palestinians are about to be taken to the cleaners one more time, this time with some cockamamie scheme to put under Arafat's "autonomous" rule another 10 or 11 percent of the but 23 percent (comprising the "occupied territories") of what was Palestine when the British ran away in 1948. And even that, whatever it is, will be completely surrounded by the Israeli army with all movement of people and goods subject to Israeli military control, Arafat's subcontrol, and the CIA's "mediation".  And once more, as usual, Nabil Sha'ath is in the lead of these "arrangements", his pockets and those of his cronies stuffed evermore with bribes, commissions, kickbacks and "special" privileges.

Last year the Palestinian Legislative Assembly, against tremendous pressures and threats, called for the immediate dismissal of Sha'ath from Yasser Arafat's "Palestinian Authority" and his indictment for corruption. At various times Arafat promised this and that, clearly buying time to bring the Legislative Assembly into line. And as usual, in the end Arafat delivered nothing but more repression while Sha'ath remains most powerful and most corrupt -- both politically and financially.

Now all this change of venue stuff, this time to London, is quite ridiculous of course. If they really wanted do, the Israelis and the Arafat folk could easily meet right where they all are now that Arafat is installed as a kind of Israeli-annointed Governor of Gaza. Indeed they usually do for social events -- Sha'ath recently threw four bashes for his wedding, one in Israel just for the Israelis.

What the London venue is really all about is more political and financial pay-offs; more behind the scenes deals behind the backs of the Palestinian people. The Europeans give Arafat and Sha'ath a lot of money these days, money they then use primarily to control and repress the Palestinian people. Indeed, just a day before the announcement of next month's London meetings, Arafat and Blair, these days representing the European Union, signed an agreement "on security matters and the war against terror." I.e., Europe, at the behest of the Americans and the Israelis, will give Arafat still more money for his now Gulag-like prison system, including expanded "training" of "security" personnel and extensive amounts of "surveillance equipment" to keep the police-state on top of everything, and everyone. 

In short, the Europeans are stepping in to further prop up the miserable "Authority" of Arafat -- pushing up the PA, pushing down everyone else. Arafat's thugs then use blackmail, torture, rape-threats, "surveillance", and still-escalating lawlessness, to keep the "peace process" going on behalf of their new "benefactors" as well as the Arab "client regimes" (especially in Amman, Cairo, and Riyadh) who themselves cling to power and wealth in similar manners throughout the essentially American-occupied region. 

This is the overall situation for the Palestinians, and in the Middle East, this 50th "Anniversary" Year.