THE UNFINISHED STORY
(Commentary by Ron Ben-Yishai, "Yediot Ahronot", Feb 15, 1998, p.1,22)

The watered down and splintered report that the Ciechanover Committee will
submit to the prime minister tomorrow will not be the final word.

Instead of removing the foul-up in Amman from the public agenda, and
accelerating a though house-cleaning by the Mossad, from tomorrow, the
committee will cause the Masha'al affair to become the Danny Yatom affair.
The head of the Mossad would not have given up his seat and would have
fought to clear his name, even had all three committee members recommended
unanimously and unequivocally to make personal decisions regarding him.
Even more so now, when two of the committee members drop the hot potato
right back on Netanyahu's lap, while the third -- the only one of the
three with any experience in intelligence operations -- demands his being
fired.

Despite this, from his personal perspective, the prime minister can list
the establishment of the Ciechanover Committee -- both from its mandate
and especially its composition -- as an important and successful political
move. At stake was a non-legal committee, of whom two of its three members
are civil servants (Peled and Ciechanover) whose continued careers depend
on the prime minister, and the third (Tolchowsky) is a businessman, who
has not held an active civil service position in years. It is natural that
such a committee would stick close to the operational and technical facts
which could be proved and avoid value judgements. This is the main reason
that Netanyahu has gotten of clean of any guilt or responsibility.

The committee did not discuss the nature of the prime minsiter's
judgements when he decided to authorize an assassination operation in
Jordan -- a country with which we have very sensitive relations. The
committee members did not see themselves appropriate -- correctly -- or
capable of discussing that issue. The matter was dropped from the
committee's agenda the moment it became clear to its members that the
prime minister's judgement had formal authority: After the murderous
terrorist attack in the Mahane Yehuda market (in Jerusalem) the cabinet
authorized Netanyahu to attack the mass-murderers wherever and whenever
possible.

It is encouraging to know -- as the report makes clear -- that the prime
minister acted flawlessly, according to all the necessary authorized
procedures, during the complex process of authorizing an operational plan.
But it would be interesting to see if the committee examined if the prime
minister sought the advice of someone knowledge- able before accepting
like the Torah on Mount Sinai what Danny Yatom told him. After all he is
not a professional in this field. The committee itself has gently said
that he bought a tall tale or two.

There is no doubt that Ciechanover and Tolchowsky are not happy that Rafi
Peled, as a man with a professional background and former member of the
Service Heads Committee, is more determined than they are in his
conclusions regarding Danny Yatom's future. This fact could strengthen
among the public the rumors already heard in the media -- mainly against
Ciechanover -- that his actions on the committee were influenced by career
considerations. This is apparently the reason for the tensions between the
committee members and the accusations made against each other, whose
echoes have already begun to leak outside. The item broadcast yesterday on
Channel Two News, according to which one of the committee members (Rafi
Peled) investigated privately one of the witnesses outside the committee
room, to the displeasure of his two colleagues. This is another sign
indicating that we have unfinished business here, on which we will yet
hear more.

.

From owner-israel-mideast@PANKOW.INTER.NET.IL  Tue Feb 17 12:13:48 1998
Subject:      The Unfinished Story - "Yediot", Feb 15, 1998
Status: O
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