Egypt issues PA with two month ultimatum to reform

[Gimel]

Egypt has issued the Palestinian Authority with a two-month ultimatum within which the Palestinians must make good on security reforms.

During a difficult meeting in which tones were raised, Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman expressed disappointment that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has not yet prepared a plan to reduce the number of Palestinian Authority security forces from 12 to 3. According to reports, Suleiman at one point shouted at Arafat, telling him "to get things moving".

Following his meetings in Ramallah, Suleiman traveled to Jerusalem to meet Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Suleiman arrived in the Ramallah a day after Egypt published its Gaza disengagement road map plan, according to which Egypt will train a 30,000-man PA security force to assist the PA in preparation for the Israeli withdrawal. A multinational force would then be deployed in Gaza and at the airport there to enable the reconstruction of the PA economy.

News Report

[liberalnurse]

1. Something smells here.....

If a big war breaks out among the other Arab nations....it may help *bush in November......

[Gimel]

4. Not a threat of war

It won't come to war between Egypt and the PA. What It'll amount to is Egypt refusing to take on the role of security to satisfy Israeli demands, so Israel will either dig the trench or not withdraw from Gaza at all.

[drdon326]

2. This should be fun to watch....

Palestinian factions oppose Egypt, Jordan security role after Gaza pullout

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=6&u=/afp/20040622/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_040622114743

Ten radical Palestinian factions united in opposition to any security role for Arab countries in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) after an Israeli pullout from the territories.


On the eve of talks between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) and a top envoy from Cairo on the role which Egypt will play when Israeli troops and settlers leave Gaza, the factions published a statement warning off both Egypt and Jordan for getting involved in the Palestinian territories.


"We note with surprise and disapproval talk about a security role for various Arab parties in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank," said the statement published on the Islamist movement Hamas' website.

.............................................................


EGYPT is going to love dealing with hamas,IJ, abd pflp

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) were among the signatories.

[tinnypriv]

5. Try organising some political activities in Egypt

And see how these "security forces" treat you.

The Palestinians should be opposed to a "security" role for Egypt.

And you should be supporting that move - or you would, if you'd been involved in activities opposing the Egyptian dictatorship - which I have, incidentially.

[The Magistrate]

7. That Would Seem, My Friend, The Point Of The Exercise

The Egyptians will break Hamas, as part of their campaign against the Brotherhood. They will use police methods worse than the Israelis, and receive a good deal less public condemnation for it as they do so.

It begins to seem that what is aimed at by the Sharon government is something close to the status quo antebellum '67, only with settlements deep into the Jordan valley, and treaties of peace in place with Egypt and Jordan, so that these act to quash, rather then facilitate or tolerate, guerrilla action against Israel.

It is hardly the optimum solution, but it will probably prove popular enough with the Israeli electorate, since it offers a fair chance of reducing the level attack against them, and will shift a good deal of opprobrium for how that is achieved onto other shoulders....

[drdon326]

8. This is correct....

"They will use police methods worse than the Israelis, and receive a good deal less public condemnation for it as they do so."

And do you think anyway here will become apoplectic
when they do??

(hell,did anyone HERE go nuts DURING Black September??
just kidding)


I just think its amazing Egypt is freightened to hell at
the prospect a hamas-controlled gaza and they are going
to make israel look like Sweden. So,who here is going
to criticize egypt??

Hey, I got it....lets open an.....

egypt/Palestine forum.

[Darranar]

9. I think you'll find that Mubarak is not quite a favorite on this forum.n/t

[drdon326]

10. I wouldn't have thought Arafat.....

isn't too popular around here either.

[Violet_Crumble]

11. He's not...

I've seen a lot of people express opinions stating their opposition to Arafat. I guess those opinions might get missed because those same people also state their opposition to Sharon, someone I wouldn't have thought would be too popular around here, but has been called a man of peace and a hero...

Violet...

[Darranar]

13. He isn't. n/t

[tinnypriv]

17. At least he's elected

Which is more than can be said for Mubarak.

Hell, even Sharon was elected.

[drdon326]

15. And of course, when Egypt......

rips hamas a new one and there are innocents that will
inevitably be hurt,I'm suuuuuure you will be just as vocal
as you have been.


BTW, what activities have you been involved in "opposing
the Egyptian dictatorship"?? I'm fascinated.

[tinnypriv]

16. Spent over two days

Handing out flyers in London rain at a demonstration partly organised by the Stop the War Coalition, providing some Israeli-Egpyt research papers privately to group members etc.

That was a demonstration against the Egyptian state and security forces.

Yeah, those are the same leftist losers who organised the two million demo in London against the Iraq war - which I again was involved with.

You can look all that up if you like, it's quite fascinating. At least the GSS functions in a democracy - the Egyptians are worse than that.

[drdon326]

3. Those Egyptians......

what a bunch of likudniks.

[Darranar]

6. And after two months...

what will Egypt do?

This seems more posturing anyway. The PA has already collapsed in Gaza, and appears to be collapsing in the West Bank. They could decide to pledge allegiance to Likud, and it wouldn't make much of a difference (except in hastening their fall).

[Gimel]

12. After two months

Once the security apparatus is streamlined the Egyptians will help train:
<clip>
Egypt has offered to send up to 200 security experts to Gaza to train the Palestinians, provided it has firm assurances that they will not get caught in any Israeli-Palestinian crossfire.

A senior Palestinian official told Reuters that Suleiman had asked Arafat to send some 30 to 40 Palestinian officers to Cairo to teach them how to retrain and rehabilitate the Palestinian security forces and help Egyptian security experts in their training mission when they go to Gaza.

The official said the Egyptian experts would remain in Gaza for about six months and that Egypt would invite Palestinian factions for a "national dialogue" in Cairo in September.
<clip>
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/443149.html

[Darranar]

14. Thanks for that, it's interesting...

the Egyptians seem to be actually interested in extending their control in the region, rather than simply playing a worthless, political game (as I first assumed in regard to their comments on the PA). Naturally, they wish to destroy the Islamist movements there, because they and Mubarak are not known for their friendly relations, and one of the ways they can begin doing this is by strengthening the secular PA, allowing it to take some of the power that the Islamist movements currently have.

There is really no one to side with in this battle; the best hope is that both destroy each other, hopefully granting both the Egyptians and the Palestinians a break and a chance for peace. Of course, the likely result is a brutal battle that ends in a sort of half-victory for the Egyptians; they have the power, but the Islamist movements remain, if less obviously than today. I do not think foreign military means have any real hope of destroying Hamas; the IDF has tried and failed.

[cantwealljustgetalong]

18. three state solution in progress...

please stand by...