The Oslo rut

By Ted Belman

At 20th anniversary of the Oslo Accords held Wednesday at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University most speakers were still foccussed on acheiving a two state solution.

Gilad Sher who was chief of staff to Ehud Barak when he was prime minister from 1999-2001 and Dov Weisglass, who represented Sharon in negotiations, both said 100,000 settlers would have to be evacuated.

Sher was among a number of speakers who believed that the best outcome of the negotiations underway would be an interim agreement. Still, he said, Israel should begin preparation for a two-state solution by halting building in isolated settlements and preparing a master plan to evacuate them. This is Olmert’s convergence plan.

    “But should Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu come to an agreement with the Palestinians, he lacks the necessary political support to turn it into a reality, Weisglass said.”

    “Netanyahu has crossed the Rubicon, but he is alone on the other side,” Weisglass said.

    Both Weisglass and former justice minister Yossi Beilin who was among the architects of the Oslo Accord, said in spite of Netanyahu’s support for a Palestinian state, he would still not be able to offer the Palestinians terms they could accept as a final status agreement.

    The Palestinians won’t accept anything less than what was offered to them by former prime minister Ehud Olmert, Weisglass said, adding that anyone who thought otherwise was deluding themselves.

    Beilin added that Netanyahu, for ideological reasons, would not agree to divide Jerusalem.

This crowd is incapable of investigating alternatives.

September 12, 2013 | 7 Comments »

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  1. Why is it that reading about the Oslo criminals meeting makes me recall that in Texas there are rattlesnake rodeos during which cowboys corner, trap and dispose of whole rattlesnake nests including dozens, hundreds of the poisonous creatures?
    The people in that meeting include some who have gained fortunes by causing the death of “victims of peace”. Outright accessories to murder.
    Caroline Glick today published an article and she ponders about personal responsibility for Israeli people disposers and users.
    It is high time for that Oslo element to face freely elected courts on charges that could cost them far more that an election cycle.

  2. This crowd is incapable of investigating alternatives.

    Corruption makes one susceptible to blackmail and extortion. For this reason the corrupt are the most desired by investors backing politicians. Foreign intellignece services likely have the facts and details which can disgrace and jail many israeli politicians. This is why I always felt it wise to assume corruption when being confronted by the most incredible shifts of politicians. They were likely given the carrot and stick. “Do what we say or you and your family will be in jail and your heirs will be disgraced for generations or make lots of money, be admired and honored and your family name will be honored for generations. Ask Sharon and Peres? I would not be surprised if sharon’s coma was a fake and that he is waiting until it all blows over. without a coma where would he and his family be?

  3. After 20 years this reactionary crowd like the Bourbons – has learned nothing and forgotten everything!

    Of course Israel can get the PLO’s signature on a piece of paper but its not worth anything – and the surrender of Jewish land will not bring about lasting peace.

    That was as true in 1993 as it is today.

  4. Dirty business graft corruption an Oslo Accords and Gush Katif destruction Later.

    Weisglass was in the middle of it all if not one of it’s prime architects.

    A quick summary
    The article goes on to provide many other details on this case, but let’s just summarize some of what we’ve seen thus far regarding this Casino:
    So Martin Schlaff, and Austrian billionaire and friend of Sharon, invested heavily in a casino venture in Jericho along with Yasser Arafat. Another investor in the casino was BAWAG, the bank of the Austria trade unions that imploded in the joint Refco and embezzlement scandals. Both Schlaff and Casinos Austria were major investors in BAWAG.

    Sharon’s close adviser and chief of staff Dov Weisglass. Weisglass was also actively involved in setting up some shell companies used to funnel campaign money to Sharon back in 1999. When Sharon was forced to pay back that money, he received a $1.5 million loan from a South African, Cyril Kern, that was believed to be acting as a front man for Martin Schlaff. The loan, with flowed through BAWAG accounts, is believed that the loan represented a bribe to encourage Sharon to allow the reopening of the Oasis Casino, which had been closed down due to the the second Intifada.

    Oh, and Cerberus, the large hedge fund that is a major force in Israel’s economy, recently bought BAWAG, which was put up for sale by the Austrian trade unions in order to cover their losses over the BAWAG/Refco twin implosions.

    On a tangential note, while the involvement of Sharon’s close aide in a business deal with Yasser Arafat may seem like an example of strange bedfellows, it’s not quite as unusual an arrangement as one might think. Take, for example, Silvio Berlusconi, a major Bush backer and Iraq war supporter: His Swiss-investment adviser, Pier Felice Barchi, doubled as the lawyer for the al-Taqwa, the Muslim Brotherhood’s bank! (More on that here) And then there’s the GOP’s own Muslim-Brotherhood-linked Get-out-the-vote operation.

    Exposé Links Olmert, Lieberman and Sharon to Jericho Casino

    A lengthy exposé targeting Yisrael Beiteinu’s Avigdor Lieberman has revealed connections between the Jericho Casino, Olmert and Sharon.

  5. “Netanyahu has crossed the Rubicon, but he is alone on the other side,” Weisglass said.

    Both Weisglass and former justice minister Yossi Beilin who was among the architects of the Oslo Accord, said in spite of Netanyahu’s support for a Palestinian state, he would still not be able to offer the Palestinians terms they could accept as a final status agreement.


    Exposé Links Olmert, Lieberman and Sharon to Jericho Casino

    A lengthy exposé targeting Yisrael Beiteinu’s Avigdor Lieberman has revealed connections between the Jericho Casino, Olmert and Sharon.

    A lengthy investigative exposé in Haaretz targeting Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) has unearthed connections between the financier of the corruption-laden Oasis Casino in Jericho and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his predecessor Ariel Sharon.

    Lieberman is currently being investigated for receiving a bribe from Austrian-Jewish businessman Martin Schlaff.


    Schlaff
    “was known during the Cold War for his ties with the East German secret police, the Stasi,” Haaretz reports. It also notes the fact that he met with Yitzchak Rabin hours before Rabin was murdered on November 4, 1995. He established the Jericho casino with the help of former Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri during Binyamin Netanyahu’s term as prime minister. The two were introduced by Dov Weissglas, who went on to be the architect of the 2005 Gaza Disengagement as a consultant to Sharon.
    Many see the casino as one of the most corruption-laden aspects of the Oslo Accords


    Refco Bank Hid $1 Billion Loss From Hedge Funds, Arafat Casino

    On Dec. 17, 1996, Palestine Commercial Services Co., an investment company controlled by Arafat, signed an agreement with a group of Austrian investors, including Bawag, according to a report on the investment’s history and financial value commissioned by the Palestinian Authority.

    Oasis

    The casino would be owned by CAP Holding AG, a Liechtenstein-based company whose shareholders were Bawag, with 11 percent; Vienna-based Casinos Austria International, with 16.5 percent; Palestine Commercial Services, with 23.1 percent; and a company called MS Privatstiftung — controlled by Schlaff — with 49.5 percent, according to Palestinian Authority and Casinos Austria documents.

    Casinos Austria ran the Oasis, along with 62 other casinos in 17 countries and nine gambling ships.

    On Sept. 13, 1998, the Oasis opened; its staff grew to about 2,000 by June 2000, when the InterContinental Hotel opened adjacent to the casino. The resort has 181 rooms, 14 suites and three swimming pools on lush grounds surrounded by desert with views of the hills across the border in Jordan.

    In its first full year, 1999, the Oasis took in $152.9 million in gaming revenue and turned a profit of $60 million, according to an assessment of the investment by Standard & Poor’s for the Palestinian Authority.

    Sharon’s campaign finance fun
    Now we’re going to move on, and take a look at Ariel Sharon’s campaign loan scandal with this May 2004 Jpost article:

    Sunday, May 9, 2004
    Weisglass pushed Sharon to reopen Jericho casino
    Yaakov Katz The Jerusalem Post May 6, 2004

    During negotiations with the Labor Party in October 2000 over the
    possibility of the Likud joining a national unity government, Ariel Sharon
    was asked by attorney Dov Weisglass, today his bureau chief
    , to speak with
    then premier Ehud Barak over the possibility of reopening the casino in
    Palestinian-controlled Jericho, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

    The casino is jointly owned by the Palestinian Authority, Casinos Austria,
    the Austrian bank BAWAG, and Austrian-Jewish businessman Martin Schlaff, a
    key figure in the ongoing police investigation of the prime minister and his son, Gilad. “At the time I did not think anything was too strange with Weisglass’s request, since at the time we knew that he was an attorney for the casino,” said one of the participants at a meeting in October 2000 at the Sharon ranch. “But now, with the allegations that Sharon may have received bribes from Schlaff, the meeting and the request seem suspicious.”

    Following his victory in the 1999 Likud Party leadership primaries, Sharon went into debt to repay NIS 4.7 million in illegal campaign contributions. Gilad Sharon received a $1.5 million loan, originating in Austria, from South Africa-based businessman Cyril Kern in order to repay another loan the family had taken out in order to return the illegal donations.

    A quick summary
    The article goes on to provide many other details on this case, but let’s just summarize some of what we’ve seen thus far regarding this Casino:
    So Martin Schlaff, and Austrian billionaire and friend of Sharon, invested heavily in a casino venture in Jericho along with Yasser Arafat. Another investor in the casino was BAWAG, the bank of the Austria trade unions that imploded in the joint Refco and embezzlement scandals. Both Schlaff and Casinos Austria were major investors in BAWAG.

    Sharon’s close adviser and chief of staff Dov Weisglass. Weisglass was also act involved in setting up some shell companies used to funnel campaign money to Sharon back in 1999. When Sharon was forced to pay back that money, he received a $1.5 million loan from a South African, Cyril Kern, that was believed to be acting as a front man for Martin Schlaff. The loan, with flowed through BAWAG accounts, is believed that the loan represented a bribe to encourage Sharon to allow the reopening of the Oasis Casino, which had been closed down due to the the second Intifada.

    Oh, and Cerberus, the large hedge fund that is a major force in Israel’s economy, recently bought BAWAG, which was put up for sale by the Austrian trade unions in order to cover their losses over the BAWAG/Refco twin implosions.

    On a tangential note, while the involvement of Sharon’s close aide in a business deal with Yasser Arafat may seem like an example of strange bedfellows, it’s not quite as unusual an arrangement as one might think. Take, for example, Silvio Berlusconi, a major Bush backer and Iraq war supporter: His Swiss-investment adviser, Pier Felice Barchi, doubled as the lawyer for the al-Taqwa, the Muslim Brotherhood’s bank! (More on that here) And then there’s the GOP’s own Muslim-Brotherhood-linked Get-out-the-vote operation.

    Red More Here