1. EUROPEANS SET TO TAKE ANOTHER SHOT AT HALTING IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM… Negotiators for France, Germany and Britain will be joined by United Nations foreign policy chief Javier Solana when they try again to convince Iran to halt its nuclear program. Iran recently said it would resume parts of its nuclear activity that had been halted during negotiations with the Europeans. The Europeans have warned Iran that if it does resume the program, they will change their policy and support the American position, which has been to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions against Iran. The U.S. contends that what the Iranians insist is nuclear development for peaceful purposes is really a cover under which Iran is developing nuclear weapons. An Iranian spokesman on Tuesday called the odds of Wednesday’s meeting in Geneva succeeding “50-50.”
2. OPPOSITION GROUPS SAY MUBARAK’S OPEN POLLS ARE A FICTION… Egyptians are voting on Wednesday in a referendum that would permit changes in its election laws. Although President Hosni Mubarak has received international praise for allowing elections that offer a choice of challengers, opponents charge that the terms are so narrow that no one would actually qualify to run against the incumbent. For example, in order to challenge the president on the ballot, a candidate needs the support of about 15 percent of the members of Parliament. But, opponents point out, fully 90% of the legislators belong to Mubarak’s own party, leaving too few to qualify another candidate.
3. POSTPONEMENT IN PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS SEEN… A London-based Arabic-language newspaper is reporting that Hamas has agreed to Mahmoud ‘Abbas’s request for a delay in holding legislative elections that until now have been scheduled for July. Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi says that the voting for the Palestinian Legislative Council might be held as late as November after Hamas agreed to the P.A. chairman’s request. Palestinian Authority officials have been complaining that a summer vote is a logistic impossibility. Hamas leader in the West Bank, Hasan Yousuf, has denied his movement agreed to postpone the parliamentary elections scheduled for July 17. “No one in Hamas agreed to postpone the elections. As far as we are concerned, they will be held as scheduled,” Yousuf told The Media Line.
4. ‘ABBAS LOWERS EXPECTATIONS FOR BUSH SUMMIT… Reports from the Palestinian Authority indicate that Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas has given up his hope that he would leave Washington with an American letter of support akin to the one Ariel Sharon received in April 2004. ‘Abbas is also said to have given up on his chances of receiving unambiguous support from President Bush to proceed directly to final status talks after Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, now set for this summer. In what some are calling a realistic reassessment, ‘Abbas will ask President Bush to prevent Israel from expanding communities in post-1967 areas following the Gaza pullout and to pressure Israel into moving ahead with the coordination of the pullout. The Bush-‘Abbas meeting will also focus on economic aid to the Palestinians.