THE ROAD OF COLLABORATION.

THE PRIZE THAT ARAFAT GOT FOR HIS COOPERATION IN THE PARIS ECONOMICAL SUMMIT OF 1994 WAS ALL THE PROFITS OF THE OIL-TAXES. BIG MONEY, BIG CORRUPTION.

Now they are talking about a Camp-David style summit, and the final
agreement.  One can forget about the horrors of occupation, seen on
(foreign) tv.  At the level of words, the occupation is long gone.
What we have now is symmetric negotiations between two empires.  Like
Egypt, in Camp-David, the Palestinian empire carries a tough bargaining
with Israel on the final details.

The power of analogy is that it can blind the eyes.  In Camp-David
there were indeed negotiations between two independent states.  The
agreement included withdrawal, returning lands and evacuating
settlements.  But the Palestinian state is an Israeli invention -
nothing but a word. What we have in practice is a new form of
occupation, assisted by brutal collaborating-services, which were
trained by the Israeli secret services to do the job of oppression.

For the Israeli left, it is difficult to criticize Arafat, since for
years he has been the symbol of the Palestinian struggle.  It is also
difficult for the oppressor to denounce the oppressed for his defeat.
Nevertheless, ignoring the facts only helps the fraud called 'peace-
process':  At the eve of the Oslo agreement, the PLO was in a serious
crisis, whose center was a growing resentment of Arafat's leadership,
There were many reports in the press of public gatherings in the West
Bank denouncing the lack of democracy, the dissociation of the Tunis
group from the reality of occupation, and, especially, the complete
control Arafat had over the budget and the finances. Arafat may have
felt that the way to regain control is a sweeping agreement with
Israel. Today it is already a public knowledge that in the circles
of Rabin, the idea was formed that under these circumstances, it may
be possible to extort Arafat into a complete surrender.

The process in which a brave national leader becomes a pathetic
collaborating ruler, like Lahad of South Lebanon, is complex, but
with a fixed script of pressure and bribery. Some details of how this
happened in just one area were exposed lately.

In April 1994, when the air was still full of the Oslo euphoria, the
economical agreement between Israel and the Palestinian authorities
was signed, in Paris.  The agreement was astonishing:  It guaranteed
the full control of Israel of every aspect of Palestinian economy:
Import is subject to all of Israel customs and taxes; export is only
permitted through Israeli mediators.  The only future left for the
Palestinians was serving as cheap labor for Israeli investors.  In
the Israeli press, there were some who wondered how come the
Palestinians signed such an agreement, but they answered, as always,
that if Arafat agrees, then all must be fine.  Now it turns out that
the chief was simply bought there - The prize that he got for his
cooperation was all the profits of the oil-taxes.  And oil is big
money.

'Haaretz' of 4.4.97,(1) discloses that Mohammed Rashid, the Curd
millionaire who serves as an economical counsellor of Arafat, agreed
in Paris, that the taxes which Israel collects on oil-imports to the
territories will return in full to a private account in 'bank leumi'
in Tel Aviv which is accessible only to Arafat and to Rashid.  It
is reported that the money is reserved for "the evacuation of Arafat,
his family, and some senior officials, in case of an upturning", and
to cover some secret services designed to guarantee Arafat's rule
until then.

AS REPORTED, IN THE GANGSTERS UNION FORMED IN PARIS, RASHID CLOSED
HIS DEAL WITH NO OTHERS BUT THE PAST HEADS OF THE ISRAELI SECURITY
SERVICES: THE MEDIATOR WAS YOSEPH GINOSAR, WHO WAS THE HEAD OF THE 'INTERROGATION' SECTION OF THE ISRAELI SECRET SERVICES (SHABAK), WHICH IS IN CHARGE OF THE TORTURE OF PALESTINIAN PRISONERS. THROUGH HIM, RASHID PROMISED THE MONOPOLY ON OIL SALES TO THE TERRITORIES TO DOR COMPANY, ONE OF WHOSE DIRECTORS IS SHMUEL GOREN, WHO WAS THE 'MILITARY COORDINATOR' OF THE TERRITORIES.  The occupier and his servants know how to milk the Palestinians.  Together they will make sure that those who pay the price for their deals will believe that it is all for the benefit of the Palestinian state.  As for those who won't believe that - the combined security -services will take care of them.

To make things even more macabre, IT TURNS OUT THAT YOSEPH ANTWERG,
WHO SIGNED THE AGREEMENT OF THE DOR-COMPANY WITH RASHID, IS THE PRESENT CANDIDATE TO HEAD THE LAND-ADMINISTRATION OFFICE OF ISRAEL - THE OFFICE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE APPROPRIATION OF PALESTINIAN LAND.  ONE CAN TRUSTARAFAT AND RASHID THAT THEY WILL HELP HIM TRANSFER THE REMAINING LANDS QUIETLY.

But before we blame the Palestinians for going along with that, we
should remember that Arafat and his corrupt administration could not
have stayed in power, if not for the Israeli army that has never left
the territories.

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(1) Roenen Bergman and David Ratner, "The man who swallowed Gaza",
Haaretz Supplement 4.4.97