Arab States

Arab countries are stepping up efforts to pry open Israel's nuclear program, according to letters by diplomats accompanying a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The documents obtained by The Times reveal a behind-the-scenes battle between the West and developing countries over whether to place the Israeli nuclear program under international controls, as demanded by an Arab-sponsored resolution adopted by the IAEA's 151 member states last year. Israel said then that it would not comply "in any way" with the resolution.

JERUSALEM — Historian Ben-Zion Netanyahu, the father of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the man said to have had the most profound influence on the conservative Israeli leader, died early Monday in his Jerusalem home. He was 102. The elder Netanyahu served as the personal secretary of Zionism's prominent Revisionist leader, Zeev Jabotinsky, in the United States during World War II, lobbying for the creation of a Jewish state. He also pursued his academic work, specializing in medieval Spanish Jewry and the roots of the Spanish Inquisition.

Three days after brokering an important new step in the Middle East peace process, the Clinton administration Monday gave a not-so-subtle diplomatic shove to Arab states to support the accord, both politically and economically.

For the better part of the last century, three Arab states - Egypt, Iraq and Syria - dominated Middle East politics in matters of war and peacemaking and shaped the region's relations with the great powers. The kings of Jordan and Morocco - and, of course, Saudi Arabia (and the Persian Gulf states) when it came to oil - had their say too. But it was the three pseudo-republics, authoritarian military regimes really, that threw their collective weight around. Not anymore.

Raytheon Co., BAE Systems and rivals said they expected six Persian Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, to buy more military equipment such as missiles and drones this year amid local leaders' rising concern over Iran. Raytheon, BAE, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. are among 900 defense exhibitors at International Defense Exhibition being held this week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Arab states said Monday they fully support Iraq against Western criticism of its execution of London-based journalist Farzad Bazoft after his conviction on spying charges. "The council (of the Arab League) proclaims its complete solidarity with Iraq in the defense of its sovereignty and national security," said a statement issued after a meeting of Arab ambassadors in Tunis.

Egypt and the Arab League tried to put the brakes on a campaign for sanctions against Sudan on Wednesday as the Sudanese government blamed rebels in the Darfur region for the humanitarian crisis there. But U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said that time was running out for the victims of the conflict and the international community should keep up the pressure on Khartoum. "It is not enough of an excuse to say, 'Well, we don't want to put sanctions on this regime.

If President Clinton decides on a military strike to punish Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for blocking U.N. weapons inspections, he might want at least verbal support from U.S. allies in the Arab world. If so, it may be hard to find. Although friendly Arab states like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia may sympathize with the U.S. position in the dispute, believing that Hussein has been deliberately provocative, there has been only muted public backing for the United States and chief U.N.

The 22 members of the Arab League committed themselves Wednesday to fighting terrorism, by signing an accord designed to ensure that their governments will not tolerate or give support to groups or individuals mounting terrorist attacks in other Arab countries. "This treaty will allow Arab countries to shatter the networks of terrorism . . .

The Japanese have asked the Arab nations to suspend their boycott of trade with Israel, a move that brings Japan's Middle East policy in line with that of the rest of the industrial world and that could boost its potential role as a peacemaker in the region.

All Gaul was divided into three parts, Julius Caesar wrote in his "De Bello Gallico. " For America, the Arab world had been divided into two: adversarial and acquiescent Arab authoritarians. Until now. The last eight months have witnessed profound changes. The willing and unwilling Arab autocrats have gone or are going the way of the dodo. What remains — Arab states without strong and authoritative leaders and caught up in lengthy, messy transitions, monarchies trying to co-opt and preempt transformational change (Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Jordan)

A wall of fear has come down. Across the Arab world, people living under the thumb of repressive leaders are rising up against the rulers who once seemed omnipotent. They are using the Internet to network and spread the word. They are watching themselves on satellite television. They are drawing strength from the hyperactive energy of the frustrated young people dismissed and discarded by their governments. It is a contagious spirit. "I lost all the fear when I saw people killed by cops during the demonstrations," said Ahmad Chibel, a 30-year-old technology consultant who took part in the protests that overthrew Tunisian strongman Zine el Abidine ben Ali. "I had courage when I saw people on the streets.

The diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have, among other things, fed the notion that America's partners in the Middle East would support a forceful, perhaps even military, response against the nuclear efforts of Iran. Senior Arab leaders are quoted as saying as much in news reports covering the leaked State Department cables. The document dump last week, however, should come with a serious warning: "Handle with care. " First, what Arab leaders say to U.S. officials and what they might do may not always track.

Arab countries are stepping up efforts to pry open Israel's nuclear program, according to letters by diplomats accompanying a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The documents obtained by The Times reveal a behind-the-scenes battle between the West and developing countries over whether to place the Israeli nuclear program under international controls, as demanded by an Arab-sponsored resolution adopted by the IAEA's 151 member states last year. Israel said then that it would not comply "in any way" with the resolution.

Evenhandedness usually is considered to be a positive attribute in diplomacy, but when it comes to the Middle East, many Israelis and their supporters see it as code for a pro-Arab policy. In that view, President Obama's insistence that Israel freeze Jewish settlement construction is anti-Israeli and a sop to the Arab street. That's wrong.

The global economic crisis is set to plunge a Middle East already reeling from war and extremism into further chaos, the ruler of Qatar cautioned other national leaders and diplomats Monday at the annual Arab League summit. Sheik Hamad ibn Khalifa al Thani, emir of the tiny but increasingly influential kingdom of Qatar, brushed aside squabbles among Arab states to warn that the world economic crisis would strike a hard blow to the volatile Middle East.

The Iran Air office in downtown Kuwait recently underwent a face lift, an apt symbol of the improving relations between Iran and Kuwait and a foretaste, perhaps, of expanding trade and business links between the two countries. Such changes were unthinkable only a year ago, when Iran was firing Silkworm surface-to-surface missiles at vital Kuwaiti installations, and this tiny sheikdom in the northwest corner of the Persian Gulf anxiously placed half of its oil tanker fleet under a protective U.S.

President Bush said Wednesday that the Arab nations that have supported the U.S.-led fight in Afghanistan must also clearly oppose terrorist acts in the Middle East, singling out Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. "All parties have a responsibility to stop funding or inciting terror.

An international economic crisis has clobbered stock markets, banks and real estate sectors in the oil-rich Persian Gulf -- but not the region's appetite for weapons. Amid the global financial downturn, the United Arab Emirates this week held one of the biggest arms shows in the world, with extensive exhibits of often high-tech weapons including stun and smoke grenades, guided missiles, armored vehicles and naval vessels.

With little sign that the soon-ending Bush administration will press Israel to halt the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, diplomats and political leaders throughout the Middle East and Europe scrambled to find ways to bring an end to the violence. But as the weekend drew to a close, the frenetic diplomatic activity appeared to have made scant progress. The United States used its U.N.