Now, why are we not surprised?

Israeli Withdrawl Fund Plans Slowed

Sunday April 2, 2000

JERUSALEM (AP) - With Israeli-Syrian negotiations on hold, Washington is proceeding more slowly with plans to fund an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, Secretary of Defense William Cohen said on his way to Israel Sunday.

Cohen's comments, made during a flight from Nigeria to Israel, were released by his spokesman, Kenneth Bacon, upon his arrival in Israel Sunday evening.

Bacon said a proposed American aid package to fund a withdrawal from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, would be brought before the U.S. Congress if a withdrawal was agreed upon. The cost of relocating Israeli settlers on the Golan and providing intelligence systems to replace the heights' strategic advantage has been estimated by Israeli officials to be as high as $17 billion.

Barak told his Cabinet ministers Sunday that he was not optimistic that the talks with Syria, stalled since January, would be renewed, but that he was leaving the option open. The sides are at odds over control of precious water sources on the strategic plateau.

Barak has pledged to pull troops out of a border zone Israel occupies in south Lebanon by July, even if an agreement with Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, does not materialize.

Israel wants Syria to guarantee security along Israel's border with Lebanon after a withdrawal. Syria wants the withdrawal to take place within the context of a broad peace deal that would include a resolution on the Golan.

Cohen, who will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Monday, said Barak's decision to withdraw from Lebanon by July was ``brave.''

Among the projects Cohen was to discuss with Barak, who is also defense minister, is a high-energy laser program, still being developed, that would help Israel intercept Katyusha rockets used by Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon. Cohen was to reaffirm the United States' commitment ``to support Israel's qualitative edge,'' Bacon said.

Barak and Cohen were also to discuss weapons of mass destruction in the region, particularly those held by Iran and Iraq, Bacon said.

Cohen, who last visited here in October, is to leave Israel later Monday for a tour of Egypt, Jordan and Persian Gulf countries.

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Islamic Resistance Support Association
Daily Report
April 11th 2000

Click on the following link to read the article:

Islamic Resistance Support Association
Daily Report
April 11th 2000

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