Report: Israel, Iran holding debt talks

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"While Iran continues to deny that Israel has the right to exist, representatives of the two countries are holding clandestine talks in Europe to settle an old Israeli debt, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Iran is still owed hundreds of millions of dollars for oil it supplied to Israel in the years before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the two countries, now sworn enemies, are holding contacts meant to settle the debt, according to the report in the daily Haaretz citing anonymous Israeli and Swiss officials involved in the negotiations.

Israel and Iran had a close relationship in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when Iran was ruled by the pro-Western Shah. Israeli companies were given large construction contracts in Iran, the countries cooperated on security and weapons development, and, according to the report, a joint Israeli-Iranian company, Trans Asiatic Oil Ltd., supplied Iranian oil to Israel.

In 1979, when Shiite clerics ousted the Shah, Iran cut off all contacts with Israel, leaving an Iranian debt to Israeli companies for services rendered and a much larger Israeli debt to Iranian oil suppliers, according to the report.

Two mediation processes involving different parts of the debt are now ongoing between Iranian and Israeli representatives, the report said, and a third ended recently in a ruling that Israeli fuel companies owe Iran tens of millions of dollars."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4381682.html

[AlamoDemoc]

1. Olmert seem to be having too many un-disclosed discussions of late...n/t

[oberliner]

4. I very much doubt that Olmert is the one having these discussions. nt

[AlamoDemoc]

6. I am not saying he's the one flying around...but his administration, of course

[bemildred]

2. Kiss and make up. That's nice. nt

[Tom Joad]

3. "pro western shah" should read... dictator installed by CIA sponsored coup.

[Peace Patriot]

5. My dream for the Middle East is that Israel cuts the Bush Cartel loose

(worst, most treacherous ally Israel could ever have acquired, dumbest thing the rightwing ever did), apologizes to the Iranian people for its part in overthrowing Iranian democracy in 1954 and inflicting 25 years of torture and oppression on them by the horrible Shah of Iran, and creates a new vision for the Middle East which focuses on REGIONAL peace, stability and cultural renaissance, and focuses on the common good of all Middle Eastern peoples.

John Lennon urged us to imagine. I'm imagining.

And this is the first step in the direction of my imagining that I have seen. I hope it bears fruit.

Of all Israel's neighbors, Iran has the most potential for becoming a progressive society. It was our western policy of destroying Iranian democracy that has set them so far back. We literally drove them into the arms of the mullahs. We--the people whose government did this (with England and Israel)--barely realize why Iranians are so afraid and suspicious of us. It is not their natural disposition. They have much reason for it. We touted democracy--like utter hypocrites--then toppled their first president, a great WW II war hero, and put our own depraved puppet in charge of their government.

Israel cannot continue as a medieval walled fortress, bristling with armaments, amidst hostile neighbors. It is untenable. Both of our movements--U.S. and Israel--are now being run by war profiteers, who foment conflict and war to keep the boondoggle going. It's time for Israel to turn around, and reject this mode of life, and become the great country that it could be.

We must think in terms of unleashing the creative energies of all people, to create world peace and justice, and to save our planet. We cannot afford to keep inflicting fear and war on each other. We mustn't be Pollyanna's about it. But we mustn't let war profiteers lead our policy either. We need to crawl out of the desperate cave that the Bush Junta has tried to shove us all into, and imagine something better, and make it happen.