Could Palestinian terror return to Lebanon?
By Akiva Eldar (Haaretz-3/4/2000)
Ehud Barak did not get particularly upset at the threat that Syrian soldiers would replace Israel's soldiers in South Lebanon. While Military Intelligence warns that a withdrawal from Lebanon without a negotiated settlement in the Golan will not go over quietly in the Galilee, the prime minister knows that Hafez Assed is too clever to become involved in a direct confrontation with Israel.In order to save face, Syria knows how to work through subcontractors. Until Ariel Sharon dispatched Arafat to Tunis, the PLO did Assad's dirty work for him in Lebanon. After that came Amal, and finally, Hezbollah fighters took control of the area. Who says that the Palestinians cannot return to the northern border?

The Syrians will not have to ask the refugees that survived the Sabra and Shatilla massacres twice to take their uniforms out of mothballs. The Oslo agreements did not improve their situation in any way. On the contrary, Lebanon demands that the final status settlement between Israel and the Palestinians remove the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from its territory once and for all.

Barak refuses to hear about the right of return and the refugees' former commanders are busy cruising in their shiny Mercedes limousines between the fancy hotels of Ramallah and the fish restaurants of Gaza.

The Syrians have also zeroed in on this old-new potential for terror. Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon has pulled the rug out from under Hezbollah's excuse that it is fighting to remove the foreign occupier from its territory. But as far as the refugees are concerned, the Galilee is occupied Palestinian territory - at least until a fair solution is found for them.

Syria used the Hezbollah as soap to wash its hands with in its effort to get Israel out of the Golan without getting itself dirty. Now it has begun to prepare the Palestinian alternative for the same purpose. According to a report reaching Jerusalem, the Syrian foreign minister, Farouk Shara, has already gotten their alibi ready. He recently said that he knows that "dissatisfied Palestinian elements would act against Israel after the withdrawal from Lebanon."

A senior minister very familiar with the area identifies a real danger. "The Palestinians will start acting against us and we will have no choice but to respond." The IDF is taking into account that Assad will spare no effort to shatter the Israeli illusion that there is no price for withdrawal from Lebanon without a withdrawal from the Golan as well. And there is no agreement with the Palestinians without an agreement with Syria. After all, why has Assad been hosting the headquarters of the refusal front organizations?
Educating Barak
Yossi Sarid was invited to the prime minister's house on Saturday to discuss the crisis with Shas. The education minister informed the prime minister that he was sorry but he had a previous engagement in Migdal Ha'emek. Sarid really enjoys being in the Education Ministry but he suffers from being in the government. He receives encouragement from mayors on the confrontation line in the Galilee and is patted on the back by Bedouin from the Negev, but the Finance Ministry puts him through hell.

Sarid can be heard everywhere complaining, "This government has no sense of direction. It is not identified with anything," and that Barak has hardly spoken to him even once about education, the flag under which he ran in the elections. All their meetings are about putting out the fires involving Shas.

Sarid promised his friends in Meretz that he will not agree, under any circumstances, to be Barak's fire extinguisher. Ran Cohen, slightly more moderate than Sarid, has rushed to his side. In a debate last week at Meretz's offices in Tel Aviv, several Knesset members suggested that Meretz be more flexible in its positions and help Barak out of the crisis. The two ministers went into the kitchen to prepare coffee.
"How old are you?" asked Cohen.
"I'll be 60 soon," responded Sarid.
"I turned 60 a few months ago," said Cohen. "If we have managed to steer clear of corruption this long, we're not going to start getting our hands dirty now."

It is difficult to find a minister in the government who is not resentful of Barak. Shlomo Ben-Ami said at a lecture in Haifa that if the government does not finally start grappling with social-welfare and economic problems, there will be no escaping early elections. And if Barak cancels the primaries in One Israel, threatened Ben-Ami, we will have to establish a new Labor Party.

Yossi Beilin is waiting patiently for the withdrawal from Lebanon and he will maintain silence until after the withdrawal from the West Bank. But if nothing has moved on the Palestinian track by the time September 13th rolls around, the justice minister will not be able to explain exactly what he is doing in this government.

Even Natan Sharansky is frustrated. At week's end, he met with Abu Mazen and heard from him that the Palestinians are prepared for a "warm peace, not like the peace with the Syrians."

Michael Melchior, a pleasant and agreeable fellow, has been trying in vain to halt the construction of the Trans-Israel Highway. On March 2, he wrote the cabinet secretary, Yitzhak Herzog, "Three weeks ago, I submitted an appeal on the decision of the ministerial committee on legislation opposing the bill proposed by MK Ilan Gillon, the purpose of which is to freeze the procedures needed to pave the highway. I also made three oral requests to have the appeal come before the cabinet plenum. Despite my repeated requests, the subject has yet to come up for discussion in the cabinet. A short while ago, I was surprised to see that it has been decided, in opposition to my request (and contrary to the rules of procedure) to have the matter brought before the ministerial committee on legislation once again." Melchior repeated his request, again in vain, that his appeal be raised without delay for discussion in the cabinet, because this is a matter of principle that will influence the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens.

Melchior, like other ministers before him who did not know how to bang on Barak's desk to make their points, are stopped at the office of Barak's chief of staff, Haim Mandel-Shaked. Instead of calming the fires, he fans the flames. Ministers and their assistants leave his office angrily, secretaries quit and advisers complain. The handicapped, mayors, students and unemployed workers' representatives have learned from Pini Kabalo of Beit She'an that only the smoke of burning tires opens Barak's door. The ministers hope that the failure of the Geneva summit will turn Barak from a project manager into a prime minister. They unanimously advise that he make some serious changes at home, that he start holding staff meetings, as any mid-size company does, and that he find himself a chief of staff who can speak English - and who will not cancel appointments with the CEOs of Australia's largest high-tech companies who came to invest in Israel, bringing along a personal letter from their prime minister. They would also be happier if the chief of staff could demonstrate a little more knowledge of Israeli literature. Upon reading an invitation to an evening in honor of eminent poet Uri Zvi Greenberg, Mandel-Shaked asked who he was.

Barak seems to realize that something is not quite right. Last week, a television cameraman greeted him, "Good evening, Mr. Prime Minister," and Barak smiled and answered:

"Have a little patience. I'm still working on it."
Instant Expo
The Germans do not understand what the fuss over MK Yossi Katz's appointment as ambassador to Germany is all about. Just recently, the German government offered a politico of Katz's ilk the post of ambassador to Israel. The future ambassador is a member of the Social-Democratic party (and a friend of Katz) who has served in the Bundestag for the last 20 years and the Socialists forgot him on their way to the government.

The Germans are having an even harder time figuring out the Israeli mismanagement of participation in Expo 2000. The huge exhibition will open in another seven weeks in Hanover. Holland, for example, began the preparations for its pavilion three-and-a-half years ago. In Israel, the competition between the bidders was launched just last week. The prime minister managed to come up with a million-and-a-half dollars, but the Germans have no more pavilions left. Israel will have to make do with an area in the general hall, not far from the Palestinians, who got organized long ago.

It all began when the German Foreign Minister Joscha Fischer told Foreign Minister David Levy, who visited in Berlin last month, "On the one hand, you complain that you are isolated, and on the other, Israel is one of the few countries in the world that will not be represented at the most important exhibition in the world." Over 160 countries have already set up their pavilions and their exhibitions.

What country would want to miss out on an opportunity to exhibit its wares before 40 million visitors? Fischer reminded Levy that Hanover is Gerhard Schroeder's home turf and that the chancellor would take Israel's absence from the exhibition personally.

A few days later, Minister of Science and Culture Matan Vilnai arrived in Berlin.

Minister of Education and Research Edelgard Bulmahn almost begged Israel to participate. Vilnai called Barak at midnight to tell him about the fiasco. Barak promised $1.5 million on condition that Vilnai take it upon himself to get Israel out of the mud.

Vilnai promised and sent his director-general, Nahman Shai, on a night train to Hanover to see if it was possible to save the situation. The organizers explained that they were very sorry, but there were no more pavilions left. They offered a 500 square-meter space in the general hall. Shai said that the most important thing is that Israel is there.

Over two years ago (on January 29, 1998), a letter from the economic delegate in Bonn, Uri Ulman, to the director general of the Prime Minister's Office was quoted here. "As you know, during the visit of Uzi Arad, the prime minister's adviser on political affairs, he discussed the participation of Israel in the exhibition, on behalf of the prime minister. The Expo authorities have told me that so far 166 countries have announced their participation - with the exclusion of Israel. As I have pointed out in the past, Israel must decide immediately - I repeat, immediately - on the manner of its participation. A number of countries have already begun their preparations and the authorities cannot save the attractive spots until Israel finds the time to decide on the matter. I recommend the appointment of a team to manage Israel's representation in the exhibition - and the sooner the better."

Perhaps someone should explain to the Germans that this has nothing to do with them. The exact same thing happened with the Israeli pavilion in Seville in 1994 and in Expo Lisbon in 1998. After all, Israel is a country that values tradition
========================================================================================