UPI
reported on February 12 that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has funded
Yasser Arafat's war of attrition to the tune of almost $1 billion. Iraq
has become the main financial supporter and ally of the Palestinians. So
much so that Hussein has become the Palestinian's greatest hero. Although
Arafat has never given any serious consideration to finding a peaceful
settlement, whatever willingness that might have been there is now trumped
by being held hostage to Iraq's cash. More likely, Iraq's financial
support merely reaffirms the obvious--Arafat never intended to negotiate
in good faith for a peace settlement. Ever!
Ironically, this billion dollars was given
during the same time period as the UN claims that the Palestinian
Authority lost $1.2 billion because of Israel's restrictions on the
movement of goods and services in Palestinian-controlled territory.
According the the February
16 Bloomberg article, the restrictions are "forcing [the
Palestinian Authority] to resort to a bank overdraft to pay salaries in
February. He said there would be no money to pay anyone in March unless a
UN appeal to the United States, European Union and Arab states is
successful." Something is wrong with this math. Either all of the $1
billion given by Iraq is going to fund military equipment, which is bad
news for the future, or Arafat is once again lying. Either way, Arafat is
playing the West for fools.
Iraq's cash is coming from the increased
oil revenue resulting from the breakdown in the UN economic embargo
against Iraq. The February
16 bombing of Iraq's newly built and modernized air defense system in
the face of superior allied (US-British) air power graphically illustrates
Hussein's unrelenting efforts to become the military power in the Mideast.
With Arafat rapidly becoming a vassal of Hussein, and the Sharon
government possibly becoming paralyzed, the ingredients for a
Palestinian-Iraqi alliance to crush Israel is rapidly coming together.
Jordan would be caught in the middle and probably crushed, while Syria may
be forced to join the alliance despite its better judgment because of the
very strong and growing demands by Syrian Islam radicals who are fomenting
pro-war hysteria among the Muslim population. V
mc
