November 09, 2000

Palestinians Seek U.S. Support for International Police Force
Iraq Seeks "Oil-For-Food" Extension
Utah, Oregon Protect Property Rights

Palestinians Seek U.S. Support for International Police Force

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived in Washington early today seeking to change President Clinton's mind on the idea of a U.N. peace force to separate Israelis and Palestinians, according to Reuters.

But Clinton has already dismissed the idea and wants to concentrate on ending a wave of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by carrying out the agreement he brokered in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last month.

The political uncertainty in Washington, where everyone is awaiting the delayed results of Tuesday's presidential election, increases the chances that little will come of Clinton's talks with Arafat today and then with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday.

In "Timeout for U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East," Research Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies Leon Hadar argues that the U.S. should cease its diplomatic efforts in the region. He writes that "as demonstrated by the outcome of recent U.S. efforts in the region, American diplomatic activism doesn’t secure regional stability. Rather, it tends to intensify ethnic and religious animosities and harden opposition to the United States."

In "U.S. Should Stay Out of Arab-Israeli Conflict," Hadar argues that the conflict does not threaten any significant national interests and that the United States would be best served by staying out of the looming war.

"Unless the persistence of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict harms crucial U.S. national interests, Washington should allow the violence to run its course," Hadar writes. "What is now taking place in the region is a civil war between Jews and Arabs that will determine the borders and the demographic makeup of Israel and an independent Palestinian state. In other words, it is a parochial conflict similar to many others around the world."

Iraq Seeks "Oil-For-Food" Extension

Iraq has made a formal request to the United Nations for an extension of the U.N.'s oil-for-food exchange to Jan. 15, an Iraqi official said today according to Reuters.

"We have sent the request to the United Nations but we have not got a response back yet,'" the official said.

The latest six-month phase of oil-for-food is due to expire on Dec. 5.

In "Imperial Overreach: Washington's Dubious Strategy to Overthrow Saddam Hussein," David Isenberg argues that sanctions are unlikely to provoke a rebellion against Saddam Hussein. "Revolution usually happens when economic conditions are improving, but not fast enough to keep up with expectations of prosperity that are rising more rapidly," he writes. Instead, he recommends that general economic sanctions be replaced with a limited export-control process that would restrict Iraq's ability to rearm.

"What should the United States do about Saddam Hussein?" was the title of a Cato policy forum held earlier this year. The debate featured former U.N. Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, Cato Adjunct Scholar David Isenberg, and Daniel Byman of RAND. The event can be watched in streaming video on the Cato Web site.

Utah, Oregon Protect Property Rights

In a move supporters said will protect personal property rights, voters in Utah passed an initiative Tuesday to amend the state's laws on handling assets seized by law enforcement by an overwhelming majority -- a decision Utah police departments say will handcuff them in the war on drugs, according to The Deseret News.

Under the new law, forfeiture laws will be rewritten to increase protections for third-party individuals whose property is used in committing a crime and then seized by police. All seized property will be turned over to the state treasurer's office and property owners will get state-paid attorneys to represent them in their fight to recover the property. Proceeds of seized property sales will go into the Uniform School Fund.

Oregonians also passed a measure that could force governments to pay compensation to land owners when regulations reduce the value of their property.

In "American Forfeiture Law: Property Owners Meet the Prosecutor," attorney Terrance G. Reed examines America's overly-broad forfeiture laws. House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde (R - Ill.) is the author of the Cato Book, "Forfeiting Our Property Rights: Is Your Property Safe from Seizure?" in which he examines the abuse inherent in civil forfeiture and proposes an overhaul of the law to protect innocent property owners, including a shift in the burden of proof from citizen to the government and a raising of the standard the government must satisfy to seize property. Hyde spoke at the Cato forum "Forfeiture Reform: Now, or Never?," which can be seen via streaming video on the Cato website.

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