May 7, 2003

Injecting a dose of realism into the US-backed "Road map"peace plan, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the Palestinians must drop their demand for Arab refugees' "right of return" to Israel if negotiations are to proceed. Since this renouncement will be needed for any plan to succeed it might as well be tacked first. It and the question of the status of Jerusalem killed the Oslo agreement, there is no point trying to ignore this question during initial talks on further agreements. 12:42:36 AM

Interesting Finds in Iraq The New York Times reports (free reg. required) that while search for an ancient seventh century copy of the Talmud in an Iraqi secret police headquarters in Baghdad, American troops found documents and maps relating to Scud missile and terrorist attacks on Israel. The troops whole are part of an unit searching for weapons of mass destruction also found documents relating to Iraqi nuclear materials procurement including. The article describes the following: Written in Arabic and dated May 20, 2001, the memo from the Iraqi intelligence station chief in an African country described an offer by a "holy warrior" to sell uranium and other nuclear material. The bid was rejected, the memo states, because of the United Nations "sanctions situation." But the station chief wrote that the source was eager to provide similar help at a more convenient time. The documents relating to Israel do not indicate if Iraq was behind the attacks any further than its policy of paying money to the family of suicide bombers but are further evidence that Iraq was a disruptive force in preventing peace in the Middle East. Unfortunately the copy of the Talmud was not found, but is believed to be in the building’s flooded basement. 12:20:03 AM