- Owens' Last Days
-
- Former Utah Senator Wayne Owens was murdered on Dec.18
in Tel Aviv at the end of a factfinding mission shared with House Representatives
David Price and Jim Davis. Price prepared a summation of the mission, noting
early on that, "Wayne Owens had few illusions about the obstacles
to getting peace negotiations back on track."
-
- He continued: "We met in Cairo with Chief of Intelligence
General Omar Seuliman regarding the next round of cease-fire talks to be
brokered by Egypt among Hamas, Fatah, and possibly other groups.
-
- "We then visited chief Palestinian Authority negotiator
Abu Mazen on the day it was determined that he would personally attend
this second round.
-
- "We met with Palestinian Authority Finance Minister
Salam Fayyad regarding financial and budget reform, where there has been
enough progress to allow the U.S. to broker the release of a first installment
of Palestinian Authority revenues impounded by Israel.
-
- "We talked with Sari Nusseibeh, head of Jerusalem
Affairs for the PLO, about the back-channel, unofficial peace initiatives
undertaken by him and others."
-
- By Akiva Eldar (Ha'aretz) Dec. 20, 2002
-
- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has taken
over responsibility for the Jerusalem portfolio by deposing prominent Palestinian
peace activist Prof. Sari Nusseibeh.
-
- Nussibeh, president of Al Quds University, hammered out
a peace plan with former Shin Bet chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Ami Ayalon earlier
this year.
-
- A senior Palestinian official who asked to remain unnamed
said that Nusseibeh's removal and the establishment of the two committees
appear to be part of a pattern of eccentric behavior exhibited by Arafat.
The official mentioned, for example, Arafat's announcement that East Jerusalem
publisher Hanna Siniora would be the PA's ambassador in Washington, but
when the prospective envoy arrived in the U.S. capital, Arafat backed down
from the appointment. Recent visitors to Arafat's office in the Muqata
said his behavior has become strange. They said he was not focused, spoke
in a confused manner, and his lips are shaking again. His doctors attribute
the shaking lips to neurological damage that followed an airplane crash
in the Libyan desert that Arafat survived.
-
- During the past year, Nusseibeh and Ayalon worked out
a draft peace plan based on the 1967 borders without a right of return
for Palestinian refugees. The paper was presented publicly a few months
ago at a modest ceremony in Athens attended by former U.S. president Bill
Clinton and the Greek foreign minister.
-
- Yesterday, however, Nusseibeh issued a statement saying
that in protest of the arrest of Musa Balawneh, a former militant-turned-peace
activist in Nusseibeh's "People's Peace Campaign," which hopes
to get one million signatures on the Nusseibeh-Ayalon plan, Nusseibeh is
ceasing his peace activist work in the Palestinian community, his dialogue
with Israel, and his efforts to transform the armed intifada into a non-violent
civil disobedience campaign - until Balawneh is released.
-
- Balawneh was arrested Wednesday night at a checkpoint
near Nablus while on his way to a meeting of peace activists in Ramallah.
According to Nusseibeh, Balawneh has not been accused of anything nor informed
of the reason for the arrest. Balawneh's travel permit, according to the
Nusseibeh statement, was issued by Israel at Nusseibeh's request and with
Israeli understanding that he would not be intercepted or arrested.
-
- THE PLOT SO FAR
-
- 1. ON December 17, Owens' group met with Sari Nusseibeh,
the Palestinian Authority's Jerusalem Affairs minister and Finance Minister
Salam Fayyad.
-
- 2. On Dec.18, Owens met with Avi Gil, Shimon Peres' deputy
director, for dinner. Owens was found dead on a Tel Aviv beach two and
a half hours later.
-
- 3. A short time after Owens' body was discovered, Nusseibeh's
political partner, Ibrahim Musa Mussalam Balawneh, was arrested by IDF
troops.
-
- 4. On Dec.19, Nusseibeh condemned the arrest of Balawneh
who was travelling on a special permit that he personally arranged.
-
- 5. Also on Dec. 19, Arafat stripped Nusseibeh of his
Jerusalem portfolio.
-
- And jumping ahead:
-
- 6. On Feb.15, under American pressure, Arafat agreed
to share power with Salam Fayyad.
-
- If no one minds, I'm going to give away the motive for
murder. I may have been underestimating Owens. It seems that he was plotting
behind Arafat's back with the, possibly, untainted Nusseibeh. The goal
was to replace Arafat's criminal regime with one run by Nusseibeh and Fayyad.
If that happened, a lot of crooks headed by Arafat and Peres were going
to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions.
-
- I am not going to rehash my previous articles at this
point. I will send them to those who so request. But I had put Owens in
the middle of an enormous Oslo embezzlement cartel whose members included
Arafat, Peres, Muhamed Rashid, Hani Masri, Yossi Ginosar, the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch of Jerusalem and a host of sundry American, Arab and Israeli
politicians, all taking their cuts of the peace pie. Now we must ask if
Owens was attempting to destroy this extended crime family.
-
- I was asked by Salt Lake City radio hostess Barbara Jean
if there was any chance that Owens didn't know about the crimes being run
through his and Peres' peace centers. I answered that after 13 years in
the Middle East peace business, Owens had to have been a willing participant.
The latest evidence more than suggests that either he was used all these
years or he had a change of heart and decided to do the right thing and
end the Arafat/Peres crime syndicate. This betrayal would have constituted
a strong motive for murder.
-
- ENTER USAID
-
- READERS will recall that at the time of his murder, Owens
was the CEO of a desalinization project and Peres was the project's NGO
director. USAID provided $128 million of American taxpayer's money to fund
the enterprise.
-
- Following is a press release from the US Consulate in
Jerusalem from April 4, 2002 announcing, "The U.S. Government to finance
construction of a seawater desalination plant and water carrier pipeline
in the Gaza Strip."
-
- http://www.uscongen-jerusalem.org/DOCS/PressReleases/PRUSAID040402.html
-
- "Congratulating Minister Sha'ath and Chairman Sharif,
U.S. Consul General Schlicher remarked, "The Palestinian Authority
is to be complimented for taking the steps necessary to introduce desalinated
water on a large scale for the people of Gaza. This agreement will result
in an increased supply of water while also protecting the ground water
quality in Gaza." USAID Mission Director Garber added that, "USAID
financed a pilot desalination project in Gaza with superior results. We
are pleased that MOPIC and the PWA have asked us to help them with these
historic desalination and water distribution projects that will bring healthier
lives to people throughout the Gaza Strip."
-
- SO who is the USAID Director Larry Garber? Here is a
bit of background found, guess where? On Wayne Owens own web site. Why
is Larry Garber's bio on Owens site? Because they invited him to speak
at the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Development on January
29, 2002. The topic was "Challenges Facing the Donor Community"
-
- http://www.centerpeace.org/events/02-01-29Garber.htm
-
- Here are some key points from his talk:
-
- *** The West Bank and Gaza are among the top five recipients
of U.S. assistance in the world and are probably the largest recipients
of per capita aid other than Israel.
-
- *** Congressional legislation prevents USAID (and the
United States) from providing any funding directly to the Palestinian Authority;
it only provides grants to NGOs and commercial businesses, whose programs
are overseen and audited by USAID.
-
- *** Before September 2000...The Peres Center for Peace
was working with USAID on developing an information technology park in
Tulkarm, and USAID was in the third phase of developing its wastewater
treatment program.
-
- [*** In response to the deteriorating situation... Border
industrial zone and local government projects have been suspended, but
rule of law and civil society programs continue, as do some infrastructure
projects, such as a desalination plant and water carrier in Gaza and a
wastewater treatment facility in Hebron.
-
- NOW, what do we notice here? We learn that USAID, and
its billion dollars invested in the region so far, only work through NGOs;
and who is NGO director of the biggest project of all, Wayne Owens' desalinization
plant? Why it just happens to be Shimon Peres. But recall that Arafat's
NGOs also received $75 million from USAID to construct a water carrier
in Gaza, we must believe, to transport some of the desalinized water to
him for sale to his people.
-
- But of course, a good chunk of the dough will finance
terror and Peres and Owens, unless they were completely blind, had to have
known that when they arranged it for him.
-
- Owens, however, had an out. USAID had a director in the
region who was responsible for auditing the funds. His name was Larry Foley
and he was murdered:
-
- Lawrence Foley who was the most senior USAID employee
based in Amman Jordan. Unfortunately he was assassinated on October 28,
2002.
-
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2367311.stm
-
- WHO would have benefitted from this murder? You can be
sure, for starters, everyone involved in the Owens desalinization project.
-
- For instance, the builders:
-
- Desalination To Meet Shortfall After Water Import Deal
Setback
-
- National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman said
on 11/28 that Israel would have to build a new desalination plant for 50
million cubic meters of water a year if the government fails to follow
through plans to import water from Turkey. Lieberman made the comment following
the tender's cancellation by an inter-ministerial committee. The only two
bidders - Universe Waters and Anatalia - said a clause in the tender that
would allow the government of Israel to cancel the project without compensation
for up to a year after the contract is signed was unacceptable.
-
- The companies said they could not afford to invest tens
of millions of dollars in refitting oil tankers for water transport without
receiving compensation if the project is scrapped. Water experts say that
even if the import of water from Turkey goes forward, the panel's decision
would set the project back by up to two years and leave the country short
of 50 million cubic meters of water a year.
-
- A senior ministry official said that if a desalination
plant is built in place of importing water from Turkey, it should be constructed
south of Ashkelon, where plans are already afoot for such a plant that
is to be built by the VID consortium, composed of Dankner Elran Investments,
Engineering & Desalination (part of Israel Chemicals) and Vivendi,
the world's largest desalination company. The government has the option
of asking the consortium to increase its production from 50 million cubic
meters of water a year to 100 million cubic meters.
-
- But David Gershonovitz, chair of the central committee
for desalination, said last week that if an additional facility is to be
constructed, the contract will not be automatically given to VID but would
be subject to an international tender. (Ha'aretz 11/29/01)
-
- AFTER sabotaging the Turkish water project with an option
no company could accept, desalinization carried on, full steam ahead:
-
- The tender for the construction of Israel's first seawater
desalination plant ended this week with a surprising price - 52.69 cents
per cubic meter - the lowest ever price offered worldwide for seawater
desalination. The group that was awarded the project is V.I.D. Desalination,
comprising Dankner-Elran investments (25%), Desalination Engineering (50%)
and Vivendi (25%), which is the world's largest water company and is French-American
owned.
-
- THE tie here which should raise alarm bells is Vivendi.
In July 2000, the Seagrams Group, founded and controlled by the Bronfman
family, bought Vivendi. Charles Bronfman is a member of the board of The
Peres Center For Peace. He is, along with Daniel Abraham, Owens' business
partner, the leading contributor to Peres' center and to Peace Now. Sarah
Ehrman, on the board of both Owens' peace center and water project, was
director of Peace Now - America. And the ties get deeper and deeper.
-
- Let's cut to the chase. Did the Bronfman family decide
to go into the water business in July 2000 because of the guaranteed prospect
of building a $150 million desalinization plant in Ashkelon and other projects
funded by USAID? How much of USAID funds to "peace" went into
the hands of other nepotists and insiders for "peace?" How much
funded the murders of Israelis for "peace?"
-
- THE FALLOUT SINCE THE OWENS MURDER
-
- Jerusalem Post Feb. 5, 2003
-
- Palestinian Finance Minister Salaam Fayad confirmed Tuesday
that Israel earlier this week transferred to the Palestinian Authority
almost $60 million in taxes (some NIS 280m.) collected from Palestinian
laborers and businesses, the single largest payment since the fighting
began.
-
- A senior diplomatic official said Israel is satisfied
that with a new US-backed supervisory mechanism in place, the money is
not being funneled to fund or support terrorism.
-
- Some NIS 100m. of this amount is not merely tax payments
due the PA from the previous month, but comes from the more than NIS 2.5
billion that has been frozen since the early days of the violence.
-
- "There is an expectation that Israel will make the
payments regularly now," The Associated Press quoted Fayad as saying.
-
- Fayad, according to one senior Israeli official, is "giving
us hope that at least in the financial sphere some reform is being done.
He is trying to do what he can."
-
- The transfer of the funds was made possible after the
establishment of a supervisory mechanism to ensure that the money is not
misused. The main component of the supervisory mechanism is the placement
of officials from the US Agency for International Development inside the
PA Finance Ministry to train auditors and help monitor the money flow.
-
- USAID is now firmly in charge of auditing funds to the
PA. And Fayad is sharing power with Arafat. It seems Owens got his way
after all.
-
- But look at one of the conditions for releasing new funds:
-
- http://www.usaid.gov/procurement_bus_opp/pr
-
-
- "Prior to the second intifada, the PLO agreed to
cooperate with our requests for information available to them that could
shed light on the status of U.S. nationals known to have been held by the
PLO or factions thereof in the past. Currently, we do not have an ongoing
relationship with the PLO on these matters."
-
- NOW who are these Americans held by the PLO? Could they
have been USAID workers who got in the way and had to be persuaded not
to report anything that would upset the Arafat/Peres crime syndicate?
Presumably they got off cheaper than Foley and Owens.
-
- ***
-
- In preparation for my Australian tour next month, I created
a video to sell at lectures. It is a recording of my lecture, Who Murdered
Yitzhak Rabin, at the Windmill Hotel in Jerusalem last October. I played
it for the first time last night and I'm delighted. The film and sound
qualities are fine. And I was hot that night. In 1997, a similar video
filmed in Toronto was released and it was one hour in length. The new video
is two hours and fourteen minutes in length with all the latest information.
And it's entertaining without a letup.
-
- I'll be reproducing the video and printing a cover next
week. Let me know if you'd like a copy of the first run for $25 or NIS
80. It's important that Americans inform me quickly, since Israel and Australia
employ PAL, while I have to know how many American NTSC tapes to make.
And of course, my new book, Save Israel! is also available for the same
price by writing chamish@netvision.net.il
-
- I owe much to my researcher David Miller - a truly great
snoop.
|