No Editorial Comment Necessary
Tom Neumann, JINSA’s Executive Director, was a panelist at a program devoted to discussing Palestinian issues. Other panelists included Mr. Khalil Foutah, the PLO Representative in Washington, Amb. Clovis Maksoud of the Center for the Study of the Global South and Laila Baha of the Arab League. Clearly, it was a one-sided panel, but we thought it would be worth sharing some of the points discussed in the forum.
Tom Neumann, JINSA’s Executive Director, was a panelist at a program devoted to discussing Palestinian issues. Other panelists included Mr. Khalil Foutah, the PLO Representative in Washington, Amb. Clovis Maksoud of the Center for the Study of the Global South and Laila Baha of the Arab League. Clearly, it was a one-sided panel, but we thought it would be worth sharing some of the points discussed in the forum.
The PLO Representative pointed out, in response to a question regarding PLO duplicity, that the PLO laid out the end game of the peace process from day one and has never wavered. The end game has always included an Independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital, right of return for refugees, and security for the state. He clearly stated, at least for the forum, that there was no potential for deviation from his “end game.”
It is also worth noting that Clovis Maksoud condemned terrorism in Israel, but chose to differentiate between ‘good terrorism’ and ‘bad terrorism.’ “Israeli extremists are extremists of territorial control and Palestinian extremists are extremists of hopelessness.” He also said that “the difference between Israelis and South African whites is the South African whites understood that they had to be integrated into the community, and Israelis are not willing to be integrated.”
As for the issue of Islamic Political Extremism, one of the panelists described it as a disinformation campaign of the media. NO EDITORIAL COMMENT NECESSARY.
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On March 8, JINSA arranged for a meeting between a Turkish military delegation led by General Cevik Bir, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, and a group of representatives from the Pentagon and State Department. General Bir gave a detailed briefing on the region. In particular, he expressed Turkey’s anger with Syria over issues of water usage, Syria’s continued drug trafficking and Syria’s support for the PKK, a Kurdish separatist terrorist organization which trains with Hizballah in Iran. He said that Turkey fervently hopes that Syria will remain on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorism sponsoring states and warned that America should be wary of expanding relations with Syria. The general added that despite pressure from the U.S. State Dept. regarding Turkey’s role in the Middle East peace process, Turkey would not capitulate to Syria’s current demands concerning water rights. Even if the success of the Israeli-Syrian negotiations are dependent on Turkey’s cooperation, as Bir said the State Department had indicated.
General Bir was pleased to announce that Israel and Turkey have recently signed security agreements that launch increased military cooperation and intelligence sharing at the highest levels between the two countries. The agreements also establish joint training and exercises between the Turkish and Israeli Air Forces. He said that it was Turkey’s hope that Jordan would soon join in these arrangements.