Middle East Intelligence Bulletin
Jointly published by the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon and the Middle East Forum
  Vol. 2   No. 3

March 2000 


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Intelligence Briefs: Middle East

Israel Pressuring Germany to Deny Egyptian Purchase of Submarines (17 February 2000)
Israel, US Sign Agreement on Nuclear Cooperation (22 February 2000)
Qaddafi Makes Sweeping Changes in Libyan Government (1 March 2000)
Israeli Police Foil Hamas Bombing (2 March 2000)
Hamas May Have Chemical Weapons Components (6 March 2000)

Israel Pressuring Germany to Deny Egyptian Purchase of Submarines
17 February 2000

The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported today that Israel is secretly pressuring Germany to reject efforts by Egypt to purchase advanced submarines. Egyptian Defense Minister Muhammad Tantawi recently asked his German counterpart, Rudolf Scharping to approve the sale of the submarines as well as the technology needed to manufacture them in Egypt. German diplomats said in response that Germany "acts responsibly" in its arms sales to the Middle East.

Israel, US Sign Agreement on Nuclear Cooperation
22 February 2000

Israel and the US signed an agreement today that gives Israeli scientists access to "non-sensitive" nuclear technology from their US counterparts. Such cooperation has been prohibited in the past due to Israel's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "It is a signal that Israel is a friendly country," said US Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. "It is not treated in a similar fashion as others on our list of sensitive countries." According to the agreement, Israeli scientists will also be exempt from the extensive background checks that scientists from most other countries must undergo before working in the US Energy Department's laboratories.

Qaddafi Makes Sweeping Changes in Libyan Government
1 March 2000

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi announced a major shakeup in the government today, replacing the prime minister and and another key cabinet member and scrapping 12 ministries. Mubarak Abdallah al-Shamikh, the minister of Public Works and Housing in the outgoing government, was appointed prime minister in place of Mohamed Ahmed al-Mangoush. Omar Mustafa al-Montasser, the Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation Minister in the outgoing government, was replaced by Mohamed Abderrahmane Chalbak, a former ambassador to Germany. In addition, the Ministry of Energy and 11 other ministries were eliminated and their powers were transferred to other government bodies.

Israeli Police Foil Hamas Bombing
2 March 2000

Israeli security forces killed four Palestinian militants and arrested a fifth in an Arab Israeli town near Tel Aviv as they were preparing explosives for five simultaneous suicide bombings in central Israel. Israeli sources claimed that the group had been acting with the approval of the Hamas leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The militants are believed to have entered Israel from Gaza via the Palestinian "safe passage" road connecting it to the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called the operation "a remarkable success by the police and security services in foiling a very serious attack aimed at Israeli civilians and designed to sabotage the peace process."

Hamas May Have Chemical Weapons Components
6 March 2000

An article in this week's edition of US News & World Report states that counter-terrorism experts in the US and Israel are concerned over the possibility that the militant Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has smuggled components for a chemical weapons bomb into Israel. The report said that shrapnel from a Hamas bomb recently examined by Israeli experts contained a chemical residue, possibly insecticide.

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