<snip> A bearded, balding man, who looked to be of Middle Eastern origin, approached the side table around which U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney and his senior advisers were dining 10 days ago. The Secret Service men allowed him through after a brief ID check. Cheney and his colleagues, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, had a good reason for inviting the Palestinian banker, whose name was familiar to few until then, to the meal in Colorado...
Karsou claims that instead of staying away from Arafat and his tricky games, Israel fell captive to the concept expressed by then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin: Arafat will fight fundamentalist Islamic terror "without a Supreme Court and without B'Tselem" {a human rights organization active in the territories}. Karsou claims that this attitude betrayed a racist attitude on the part of the Israeli left, according to which forcing a dictatorial regime on the Palestinians was the right step, because the Arabs are unable to sustain a democracy...
Karsou's knowledge about what goes on in Israel comes from a long familiarity with Israeli politics. His family lived in Nablus. The father of the family founded the first company for money-changing in the West Bank, which quickly became the largest of its kind in the Middle East. The company opened branches all over the Arab world, in Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Kuwait and Amman. After studying economics at the University of Buckingham in England, Karsou returned to the family business, working in various managerial positions. The company thrived, but in 1986 the Jordanian prime minister ordered its assets frozen, in response to the decision by the Bank of Israel to grant it a banking license. The Jordanians, who refused at the time to obey the demand of the Arab League to sever themselves from the West Bank, didn't agree to independent Palestinian activity that was recognized by Israel. The Jordanian ruling led to the closing of the firm's branches, and to the loss of its assets...
U.S. President George W. Bush's Middle East vision, which called for a change in the PA regime and the founding of democratic institutions, played into Karsou's hands. The meeting with Cheney was preceded by thorough preparations. He met with senior officials in the State Department, the Defense Department and the National Security Council, and began to acquire their trust. Not only in Washington did he find a sympathetic ear: During the past year, he has found an enthusiastic supporter in the person of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Housing and Construction Natan Sharansky, who has met with him several times. (more)
HaaretzFrom what I can gather, Karsou has received ediorial encouragement from the Jerusalem Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Sun. Hmmm...