The adviser, who requested to remain anonymous, said he noticed, that "Israel is preoccupied about Washington’s potential reaction vis-à-vis Iran, in the event that Security Council sanctions fail to be respected. Israelis are not sure that the United States will support a combat operation against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program

The conversation then shifted to the Palestinian front. The advisor said that "although most questions dealt with during tripartite meetings between Ehud Olmert, Mahmoud Abbas and Condoleezza Rice appeared in the press", he added that, "some of the issues under discussion did not come to light and that they relate to the construction of Palestinian institutions.

"That was also the main agenda of the Olmert - Bush summit in Washington weeks back”.

In addition, Tony Blair, the quartet’s envoy, will not negotiate peace between Palestinian and Israelis. His mission is to help build the infrastructure and the public structures of the future State. “ The time has not yet come to promote the peace process, but rather to lay down and implement its previous conditions ".

Regarding Hamas’ coup in the Gaza Strip, the civil servant admitted that "we knew that the Hamas would attack Fatah, and we trained Mahmud Abbas’ forces to that end. But we never imagined that it would happen so soon and that the Fatah would be so easily overthrown". "Palestinian intelligence services are nonexistent", he added. "But Egyptian intelligence services are highly specialized and very efficient". Therefore, regarding arms smuggling via the border between Gaza and Egypt, he said "Egyptian security forces could do more to restrain traffic and destroy the tunnels, without infringing the Camp David peace accords. But they refrain from doing because they simply don’t want to. Fighting arms smuggling could cause internal problems, leading to destabilization ". He added that "on several occasions, the tunnels were used not only for arms smuggling but also for smuggling basic and consumer’s products, prostitutes and foreign workers".

This information is surprising, given the serious economic crisis in the Gaza Strip and the high rate of unemployment.

Finally, regarding Syria, the adviser said that "the United States does not believe Syria will launch an armed conflict against Israel because it would have too much to lose". " Dennis Ross (former envoy to the Middle East) talked about potential war with Syria but his declarations are unfounded”, he added. “Ross has not had access to relevant information for quite some time ". He added that "non official channels and contacts between Israelis and Syrians are being held at the moment, but there are no formal negotiations on the horizon.”. Syria’s link to Iran is more a necessity than anything else because Syria is isolated. The United States do not want to have anything to do with Syria, neither does Europe and Iran has much money to offer ". The Secretary of State’s adviser concluded by saying that "the Arab countries have much fear of Iran’s nuclear development program".07/08/07

Patricio Abramzon

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