MID-EAST REALITIES - WEEK IN REVIEW - Weekly Behind-The-Scenes Briefs ********************************************************************

Torture continues unchecked by the Arafat regime. While hundreds, even thousands, have gravely suffered, the 9th confirmed death by torture since the Arafat "autonomy" take-over has just been reported.

At the same time that Egyptian political leaders are hinting that they might fight alongside Syria if Israel attacks Syria, the largest Egyptian corporation, CATO, has announced its intention of buying nearly $60 million worth of stock in the Israeli Koor company! Ibrahim Kamal, the head of CATO, is considered the closest person in the economic Egyptian economic community to President Mubarak. He was in Israel in late January as a personal guest of the Director General of Koor, Benny Gaon. The Gaon family has long supported the Israeli right-wing including Israeli P.M. Netanyahu. Kamal and those around him are believed to be receiving under-the-tables financial 'incentives'.

Benjamin Netanyahu's political advisor Dore Gold recently returned from secret meetings with Gulf Arab leaders. The Israeli aim is to improve relations and to arrange meetings between Netanyahu and Gulf Arab leaders.

Led by Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar, the Saudi regime is in the process of buying over $30 billion in new fighter planes. There are a number of purposes to this deal. First it is an economic payoff to the Americans worked out by Bandar over the years in his quest to try to position his father, and possibly himself, as a future King of Saudi Arabia. Second the Americans continue to pre-position vast quanties of military weapons in Saudi Arabia for possible use against Iraq, Iran, or internal insurrection.

Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid has called upon European governments to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority in response to its flagrant violations of human rights. Eid sharply condemned the PA for having created a climate of fear among Palestinians, and squelching all dissent. He said that torture and arbitrary arrest are routine, and that even Palestinian human rights groups were 'informed' that they were not to speak out against Yasser Arafat's regime. Quoting PA Police Ministry statistics, Eid said that there are officially 80,000 Palestinian police officers stationed in the Palestinian-controlled areas, in addition to thousands of "preventive security" officers, plainclothes agents and intelligence agents.

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