WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR DECEMBER 7, 2001

BUZZFLASH NOTE: Once again, these are the views and perspectives of the individual papers, not of BuzzFlash or Gloria. They offer BuzzFlash readers a way of reading what other nations are saying about the crisis, whether we like it or not.

http://www.buzzflash.com/mediawatch

1//Jerusalem Post, Israel--FATAH 'SELLING' SHOTS AT GILO TO HAMAS ("Fatah Tanzim activists in the Bethlehem area are allowing gunmen affiliated with Islamic Jihad and Hamas to
shoot at Gilo in exchange for payments of hundreds of shekels, a senior Israeli security source told The Jerusalem Post yesterday.")

2//Ha'aretz, Israel--ANALYSIS/ARAFAT'S NIGHTMARE: ISRAEL BOMBS THE JAILS
("The Palestinian street will also be suspicious of collusion among Arafat, the Israelis and Americans to eliminate the intifada activists now being held in Palestinian Authority jails.")

3//The Hindustan Times, India--KYRGYSTAN AGREES TO US AIRBASE REQUEST
("…not intended to be long-term. That was a bid to dispel Russian fears that its political and military clout in vast, resource-rich Central Asia, a region it once ruled, would not be eroded by the Western deployment.")

4//Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong--NORTH KOREA/WELCOME TO THE WAR ("Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to Seoul, sees a crisis on the horizon if the Bush administration's policy on North Korea is hijacked by hawks like Bolton and Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz.")

5//The Guardian, UK--LORDS BLOW TO TERROR BILL ("A joint opposition bid to limit the enforced disclosure of personal financial and tax information to people "genuinely suspected of terrorism", was backed by 227 votes to 145, a majority of 82. The home secretary, David Blunkett, had originally wanted the powers applicable to anyone.")

**************************************************************

1//Jerusalem Post 22 Kislev 5762 01:38 Friday December 7, 2001
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/12/07/News/News.39531.html

FATAH 'SELLING' SHOTS AT GILO TO HAMAS By Margot Dudkevitch

JERUSALEM (December 7) - While obeying an order by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to refrain from shooting at Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, Fatah Tanzim activists in the Bethlehem area are allowing gunmen affiliated with Islamic Jihad and Hamas to shoot at Gilo in exchange for payments of hundreds of shekels, a senior Israeli security source told The Jerusalem Post yesterday.

"The sums range from hundreds of shekels to NIS 1,000 to NIS 1,500," the official said.

All the shooting attacks on Gilo in recent weeks apart from Wednesday night were perpetrated by Islamic Jihad and Hamas gunmen.

(SKIP)

While the Fatah Tanzim activists in the Bethlehem area enjoy the most popularity, Hamas is swiftly gaining support in the street, he said.

"Hamas would like nothing more than to see Arafat toppled. Because the Hamas is gaining support in the area, Arafat in fact gave strict orders not to hold the student elections at Bethlehem University in November, because he feared the outcome," the official said. "The university is considered to be secular. However, when economic conditions are in a slump and the general situation of the local population is poor, Hamas gains support with its offer of food, money, and assistance to families."

In the Bethlehem area a tense calm prevails, he said. "So far there are no signs that Arafat has changed his strategy, but the keys are in his hands and if he wants he can enforce changes.

"His support in some circles appears to be waning, for instance with the recent actions taken by Israel. Arafat, who is perceived as a symbol of the Palestinian people, was humiliated and yet there were no gatherings or rallies in the street expressing support for their leader."

In recent weeks the Christian residents of the Bethlehem area have formed armed militias for their own self-defense, he said. "Very few, if any, take part in shooting attacks, but the militias were formed more as an act of self-defense and to show the Tanzim and others that they, too, have weapons," the official added.

Fifteen years ago the Christian community made up 90 percent of the population in the Bethlehem area and today they comprise close to 20 percent, the official said.

Arafat yesterday ordered officials in Bethlehem to hold Christmas festivities in the city and not just the religious ceremonies in order to encourage tourism. In recent weeks city officials said there would be no celebrations to mark Christmas this year because of the security situation and declared that, aside from the religious services, there would be no festivities. The only decorations in Manger Square would be photos of all the "martyrs" killed since the outbreak of violence last year.

2//Ha'aretz Friday, December 07, 2001 Kislev 22, 5762 Israel Time: 02:44 (GMT+2)
Link to Ha'aretz article

ANALYSIS/ARAFAT'S NIGHTMARE: ISRAEL BOMBS THE JAILS
By Danny Rubinstein

Yasser Arafat and his security services are afraid that Israel will bomb the prison facilities where arrested Hamas and Islamic Jihad suspects are being held. They have long been aware of the growing bitterness and alienation in the West Bank and Gaza toward the leadership, and if the prisoners are killed in an Israeli attack, Arafat and his men will be immediately blamed for it. The Palestinian street will also be suspicious of collusion among Arafat, the Israelis and Americans to eliminate the intifada activists now being held in Palestinian Authority jails.

Last night, there were reports that the PA security forces had halted their sweep as a result of the Israeli attacks. A Palestinian security source said that a group of Hamas prisoners in Nablus were transferred to a safe place, for fear that Israel would bomb the prison, just as it bombed the old Nablus prison in an attempt to kill Mahmoud Abu Hanoud.

While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon claims that the arrests are fake, Palestinian spokesman say that some 120 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists are already under arrest. In some cases, there were violent clashes between Palestinian security forces and Muslim activists who resisted arrest. One incident took place in Bethlehem, and another in Gaza, when police tried to arrest one of the bodyguards of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas spiritual leader.

Most of those arrested are Islamic Jihad activists, whose names were published in the latest issue of the organization's journal, Al-Istiklal. These included activists from Ramallah, Jenin, Tul Karm, Nablus and Hebron.

(SKIP)

Palestinian sources said yesterday there were many years in which the Israeli security establishment held as many as 15,000 Palestinians in jails and other facilities, and that did not result in a complete end to the violence and attacks. In other words, there's a reason to make arrests - if they are accompanied by negotiations that create an opportunity for settlement of the conflict.

3//The Hindustan Times December 6, 2001
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/061201/dLAME42.asp

KYRGYSTAN AGREES TO US AIRBASE REQUEST
Olga Dzyubenko (Reuters) Bishkek, December 6

Parliament in Kyrgyzstan voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to allow the US-led coalition in Afghanistan to use the ex-Soviet state's airbases in military and humanitarian operations for one year.

(SKIP)

The Kyrgyz decison could be militarily significant for the United States and its coalition partners as Kyrgyzstan is within easy reach of Afghanistan though there is no common border.

(SKIP)

The note said Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry was conveying the government's agreement to proposals contained in a US diplomatic note and "confirms that the note and this reply form an agreement between the Kyrgyz and US governments". The United States had requested permission to use Kyrgyzstan's air facilities for operations in Afghanistan, including Manas international airport near Bishkek.

The agreement allows for prolongation of the US of facilities after the expiry of the one-year term.

That prompted concerns among members of the pro-Russian Communist Party, who said that the presence of Western troops might be eventually legalised in a form of a military base.

Kyrgyz officials this week said the Western deployment was directly linked to the US-led campaign in Afghanistan and not intended to be long-term.

That was a bid to dispel Russian fears that its political and military clout in vast, resource-rich Central Asia, a region it once ruled, would not be eroded by the Western deployment.

(SKIP)

Kyrgyzstan, burdened by a massive external debt and immense social problems, stands to gain more from the US agreement than just closer relations with Washington.

Transport and Communications Minister Kubanychbek Zhumaliyev told deputies that state coffers would receive $7,000 for each landing and take-off by a large aircraft.

A security official said US military experts had determined that Manas can accommodate 30-40 aircraft of different types at any one time. He said US officers had concluded that Kant airbase, originally favoured by Washington, was in too bad a state of disrepair.

Kyrgyz officials say the military contingent to be deployed in the country may include France, Italy, Canada, Australia and South Korea.

4//Far Eastern Economic Review Issue cover-dated December 13, 2001
http://www.feer.com/articles/2001/0112_13/p014region.html

NORTH KOREA/WELCOME TO THE WAR

With President Bush's chilling statements suggesting North Korea could be a target in the war on terrorism, the U.S. may have actually lost ground in the quest to find out just what weapons Pyongyang has

By John Larkin/SEOUL and Murray Hiebert/WASHINGTON

THE FEBRUARY 8 Vinalon Factory on North Korea's east coast produces a stiff, dye-resistant, virtually unusable textile invented by a local scientist and touted by Pyongyang as superior to nylon. The factory is also rumoured to manufacture a more sinister commodity: chemical weapons.

Finding out exactly what is produced at the facility, and at others in North Korea believed to manufacture and test weapons of mass destruction, is emerging as a controversial new priority for Washington as it prepares the second phase of its declared war on terrorism. United States officials expressing that priority have stoked fears in Seoul that constructive dialogue with Pyongyang could be the first casualty of this next phase.

Not for the first time, North Korea has been grouped with Iraq as part of Washington's military campaign against Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks. On November 19, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton told a meeting of the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva that North Korea's biological warfare programme ranked second only to Iraq's as a threat to international security. "North Korea likely has the capability to produce sufficient quantities of biological agents for military purposes," said Bolton.

(SKIP)

Nerves jangled in Seoul as Pyongyang was mentioned in the same breath as Iraq. Short of an invasion from the North, it is unlikely that Seoul would agree to a U.S. military strike against North Korea. But there are fears that a hardening attitude in Washington could lead to a stand-off similar to the showdown in 1994 over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. Conflict was narrowly averted then when former President Jimmy Carter brokered a deal with Pyongyang.

Pro-engagement figures see history repeating itself unless the Bush administration grasps the difference between Iraq, which refuses to negotiate away its weapons, and North Korea, which has signalled a willingness to do so.

"It's essentially impossible for George Bush to blow North Korea up," says John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defence-policy think-tank. "But he can certainly embark on a policy of malign neglect in which Washington ignores North Korea's attention-getting gestures, like missile tests, forcing North Korea to escalate its attention-getters and having them misinterpreted as preparations for war."

Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to Seoul, sees a crisis on the horizon if the Bush administration's policy on North Korea is hijacked by hawks like Bolton and Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz. "I think Bolton is an ideologue and a hardliner and has behaved irresponsibly" by delivering his speech, says Gregg. In June Gregg helped goad Bush back toward conciliation with Pyongyang by explaining the benefits of dialogue in a memo sent to George Bush Senior, who passed it on to the White House. "I'm not saying they don't have [weapons], but the way to get rid of them is not to bully but to engage."

At a minimum, Washington is sending mixed signals. The remarks by Bush and Bolton contrast with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly's generally upbeat and pro-engagement assessment in late November. It could be the good cop, bad cop routine. But some observers worry that the remarks by Bush and Bolton are a more honest expression of the administration's stance toward Pyongyang than are its public comments supporting engagement. "Bush's mood towards North Korea is decidedly sceptical, borderline hostile," says a congressional aide handling East Asia.

(SKIP)

"As a citizen of Seoul, I know that if Bush wants a second war against North Korea, South Korea will suffer greatly," says Choi Won Ki, a reporter covering North Korea for Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. Korean policymakers fret that the heightened rhetoric could wreck gains made in engaging North Korea, which include increased business exchanges, family reunions and a fading of military tensions.

Explains the senior South Korean official: "It created unnecessary concern not only for the South Korean public but also in North Korea that the Korean peninsula can be a battleground again. We want a peaceful atmosphere on the peninsula."

Dialogue with North Korea, a process pushed hardest by South Korea's President Kim Dae Jung, who last year won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, has been almost nonexistent since Bush took office. Pyongyang broke off talks with Washington in March after Bush publicly stated his mistrust of Kim Jong Il. Inter-Korean talks have been fitful at best since then, despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's insistence that he was ready for talks with North Korea "anywhere, any time."

Powell's offer was viewed as a softening of Washington's stance. But September 11 has bolstered the hardliners. One consequence may be the suspension of construction of two light-water reactors that a consortium of nations agreed to build for North Korea in return for dismantling its older reactors capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.

(SKIP)

What weapons is North Korea hiding? It is believed to have abided by the terms of the 1994 Agreed Framework under which it gets the new reactors. But the Central Intelligence Agency believes Pyongyang might have kept enough plutonium to build one or two nuclear weapons. The inspections are meant to find whether it did.

(SKIP)

The North's chemical weapons programme is believed to be mature. With at least eight factories producing nerve, blister, choking and blood agents in bulk since 1989, estimates of its stockpile run from 250 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes. Production of biological weapons, the renewed concern since the recent anthrax attacks in the U.S., was accelerated at the direction of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in 1990, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

The FAS says the North probably has limited quantities of biological toxins including anthrax, yellow fever and smallpox. Though it joined the Biological Weapons Convention in 1987, North Korea has refused to be bound by it, one of the factors behind Undersecretary Bolton's comments on November 19.

But pinning North Korea down won't be easy. Han Sung Joo, who was South Korea's foreign minister during the 1993-94 nuclear crisis, when North Korea breached the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, says extending the war on terrorism by demanding access to the North's biological weapons and missile facilities would be a long shot at best. "Unlike in 1994, there's no legal instrument to fall back on," says Han. "Therefore it would be very difficult to bring the international community to join the U.S. effort to open up North Korea to inspections."

(SKIP)

Washington may be playing games of its own. South Korean officials hold the hope that the Bush administration's new focus on North Korea is more about building domestic support for its missile-defence system than freezing out Pyongyang.

(MORE)

5//The GuardianThursday December 6, 2001
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/lords/story/0,9061,614661,00.html

LORDS BLOW TO TERROR BILL
Julian Glover

The government suffered a partial defeat in the Lords tonight in a vote on its anti-terrorism legislation. A joint opposition bid to limit the enforced disclosure of personal financial and tax information to people "genuinely suspected of terrorism", was backed by 227 votes to 145, a majority of 82.

The home secretary, David Blunkett, had originally wanted the powers applicable to anyone.

It is the latest setback for Mr Blunkett after the Tories, Liberal Democrat and many backbenchers in the Lords threatened to stall the bill - which the government wants to get through parliament by mid-December.

Lord Dixon-Smith, for Tories, said: "It is the extension beyond what is required for the purposes of this Act that we find so difficult to accept. Crime is always with us." Lord Wallace of Saltaire, for Liberal Democrats agreed. "This is not only an anti-terrorism Bill but a convenient vehicle for a number of other things."

(SKIP)

Before the vote, home office minister Lord Rooker warned peers against voting for the amendments. "Taken together, if this group of amendments is passed as a group, they will wreck the bill," he said.

Not all were voted on this evening. But the defeat spells bad news for the government in its efforts to get the bill into law by Christmas. Tonight's vote is the second defeat for the legislation in a week. It follows a successful Conservative amendment to extend the legislation to cover domestic, as well as foreign terrorism and a Liberal Democrat-led ambush in the House of Commons which threw the timetable for the bill's return to the lower house into disarray.

Ministers may now have to consider conceding some changes to the bill or face losing it altogether.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Help keep BuzzFlash Buzz'n!

Contribute to BuzzFlash and Get One of Our Fancy BuzzFlash Premiums!

http://www.buzzflash.com/premiums/

We Can Also Ship Premiums as Holiday Gifts!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *