* You know something has changed when both Kofi Annan and former PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas are calling for serious reform in Arafat’s PA.
* Great staff-ed in the Dallas Morning News (req. reg.) about Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan’s embarrassing appearance on Meet the Press. Host Tim Russert aired clips of a Saudi telethon that raised millions of dollars for Palestinian terrorists, then grilled the prince about it:
An increasingly exasperated Prince Bandar either denied the accusations or said they were part of the pre-Sept. 11 past. But Mr. Russert reminded him that the telethon occurred in April 2003 and that a May 2003 report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom found that official Saudi textbooks teach children extreme hatred and intolerance of Jews, Christians and Muslims who choose to reject the faith.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Crown Prince blamed a recent terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia on Zionists.
* Washington Post commentary investigates the journalistic culture that allows the Jack Kelleys, Jayson Blairs and Stephen Glasses to fabricate stories for years without anyone noticing.
* Jerusalem Post reports on how Hamas and Al-Qaida use the internet to further their goals. A researcher at the ICT charges that law enforcement agencies exaggerate “cyber terror” while overlooking terror groups’ more routine internet activities.
* (Lord) Robin Renwick in the Telegraph on the letter signed by 52 British ex-ambassadors criticizing Blair’s Mideast policy:
Many of the signatories were former Arabists in the Foreign Office, affectionately known as the Camel Corps. Some members of the Corps have shown a tendency over the years to develop a quite passionate attachment to the Arab world that, unfortunately, has not always been reciprocated by the Arabs. They have tended to concentrate on the crimes of the Israelis, rather than those of the Palestinians. Most of us would prefer to be more even-handed.
The Telegraph also has a staff-ed on the Camel Corps’ ‘passionate attachment’ to Arab leaders:
Some of the most prominent former diplomats who condemned Tony Blair’s policies in the Middle East have business links with Arab governments, The Telegraph can reveal.
In a letter published last week, 52 former British diplomats condemned the invasion of Iraq and the Government’s support for Israel.
The letter failed to disclose, however, that several of the key signatories, including Oliver Miles, the former British ambassador to Libya who instigated the letter, are paid by pro-Arab organisations.
Some of the others hold positions in companies seeking lucrative Middle East contracts, while others have unpaid positions with pro-Arab organisations.
The disclosure last night prompted allegations – denied by the diplomats – that they were merely promoting the interests of their clients. Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, said: “If an MP had made statements like these without declaring an interest in the subject they would have been before the standards and privileges committee we would have had their guts for garters.
“This casts a very different light on what the former diplomats have said.”
