Читать книгу The Gaza Project - Cyrill Delvin - Страница 13

For weeks now southern Europe had been in the grip of an unprecedented heatwave. The numerous almond trees on Trois-Ruisselets threatened to wither and die. Charles took no notice.

»You have to see this!« Ted shouted over to him from the French doors. »Quickly! Šarīf won on the Gaza Strip.«

Charles who had been studying some documents in the garden, got up from his seat and rushed over to the chart room. The television showed live coverage from Gaza.

»…unbelievable, masses of followers of the new Palestinian Brotherhood Party, the moderate Fatḥ and the liberal Ḥamās wing have gathered in front of the government building where they are cheering Nadim Šarīf. He’s standing on the rostrum surrounded by armed security guards. There are green-yellow flags everywhere. The crowd’s going wild.

Together with the Fatḥ, and supported by the liberal forces of the administration in Gaza, Šarīf’s Brotherhood Party secured 55.6 percent of the votes inside the Gaza Strip in the first ballot. Although constantly pressured by Israel, the USA and the EU, the former Muslim brotherhood‘s moderate wing was able to hold its ground, but the Palestinian Brotherhood Party, founded by Šarīf five years ago, didn’t make any progress. And now this! Out of the blue, Šarīf appears to have overcome the schism between the Ḥamās and the Fatḥ. How did this happen?«

»Well,« the Middle East expert commented, »a fundamental factor leading to the Ḥamās‘ loss of power is Israel’s embargo policy, which managed to isolate the Gaza Strip and to pacify it. Palestinian attacks and the corresponding Israeli interventions have been drastically reduced over the past two to three years. The wall politics appear to be working, despite international protests. In addition, the supply situation, and with that the humanitarian situation on the Gaza Strip, has dramatically improved since the relaxation of the Israeli trade embargo across the water over the same time period. The power base of the radical Ḥamās fighters and other violent groupings has thereby been noticeably weakened. Furthermore, the governing part of the Ḥamās has become more moderate as a result of external pressure, foremost from the USA.

The West Bank presents an entirely different picture. There the Fatḥ lost a staggering twenty percent. Even the Brotherhood Party’s growth to 14.7 percent couldn’t entirely compensate for the moderates‘ power loss as opposed to the radical forces. Although the two parties together still hold the majority in the council, the Islamic forces with the Ḥamās at the forefront are in effect the actual election winners in the West Bank.

This means that despite the Brotherhood Party’s surprise victory the power balance between the Brotherhood Party including the Fatḥ and the Ḥamās has become more unstable in the entire Palestinian autonomous territories. The near future will decide if a united Palestine can gain enough power and influence and reinstate negotiations with Israel or if, on the other hand, a de facto separation of Gaza and the West Bank will aggravate the crisis. Since the last international peace conference in Malta nine years ago…«

»Hm,« Charles muttered and lowered the volume of the TV, »a surprise, indeed.«

»Aren’t you satisfied?« Ted enquired.

»It’s what we hoped for – and feared. We shall soon find out who really has the say in Palestine. I hope that Nadim will be the man. He’d have earned it.«

»Sir, a call from Madame Lédoux,« the private secretary announced.

»Put her through, please. And, Brad, I’ll have to talk to Whiteford, the Secretary of State, right after. From my study.«

»Very well, Sir!«

Ted wanted to leave the room when Brad did, but Charles beckoned him to stay.

»Please, don’t go yet. We still have to discuss a few things.«

Ted nodded and Charles turned the speakers on.

»Did you hear that,« Françoise exclaimed, »Nadim has done it.«

»Yes, we saw it.«

»That took a load off my mind. There’s nothing standing in our way now. We can start building the pilot plant in Gaza without opposition.«

»Slow down. Let’s not be too hasty.«

»What do you mean?«

»I think it would be wiser to wait until the autumn.«

»But why? We can actually get cracking next week. We’re ready.«

»That’s not the point, Françoise, I don’t doubt it for a minute.«

»So why then?«

»I want to be sure that the election results have been accepted by all sides and that things have calmed down. We need rest on the Gaza Strip, but also in Israel and on the West Bank. I want to fully understand the reasons behind the power shift, and for that I need more time and information.«

»Okay,« Françoise replied, now less enthusiastic. »›Phoenix‹ can wait for a bit, I presume. By the way, the osmosis specialist Cheng procured for us here in Melbourne is a star! We’ve increased the effectiveness by another five percent. Next month, he’ll go to Cyprus to continue the work on the biochemical components onboard the Asteroid.«

»Great news. I have to hang up now, Françoise. Doris is about to ring any minute.«

The connection had already been interrupted when Charles thought he heard an unusual sound in the line. A barely audible whistling noise.

»What is it?« Ted asked in response to Charles‘ sceptical expression.

»Nothing. Must be the satellite link.«

»What? What about it?«

»A strange reverb effect.«

»Do you think someone’s listening in?«

»Hardly. Then I would have heard a clicking sound, but it was more like an acoustic short circuit.«

»I check the codec downstairs and talk to Tariq!«

»Yes, do that, just in case. And Ted, does the two month postponement of the building works in Gaza cause difficulties for us?«

»No. We can easily keep the materials in Polis.«

»Very good!«

»What did you mean earlier on? Do you doubt that Nadim’s election was right?«

»I don’t know. Nothing happens for five years and then suddenly…«

»You think the elections were rigged?«

»It’s not impossible that the Israelis were involved. I’ll talk to Liron as well. I just need to be sure. The last thing we’ll need once we’ll really get going in Gaza is political upheaval.«

Ted scratched his head.

We’ll find out soon enough. Will I see you in the study for a nightcap in a couple of hours?«

»Okay.«

On his way to the study Charles grabbed a cold lemonade from the kitchen. Ted went to the server room in the basement to check the news and the encoding equipment.

»Hello Doris. How are you?«

»Fine, Charles, thank you. In half an hour we’ll have a Middle East assessment regarding the elections in Palestine. I presume that’s why you’re calling?«

»It is. Do you know anything about the background to the surprising outcome?«

»Sorry, no. According to our intelligence guys and the OSZE the election was above board. There were no incidents worth mentioning at the polling stations.«

»I’m worried about Nadim. His situation is more precarious than ever now.«

»I’m aware of that.«

»So much depends on him. If anything happens to him now, it will set us back years of hard work.«

»Did you talk to Eizenburg?«

»No, but I’ll call him shortly.«

»Just wait a bit longer. At six we’ll have a conference call. President Davidson wants to use the momentum to initiate renewed negotiations between Israel and Palestine.«

»That would certainly be useful to us,« Charles said relieved. »But we still have to shield Nadim as much as we can; from his own radicals as well as from the radical Israeli forces.«

»According to my information, it’s quiet in both camps. But that can change overnight. We’ll definitely keep Šarīf‘s personal security on high alert.«

»Right. We’ll postpone the building of the pilot plant in Gaza by two months. By then we will hopefully be in a position to predict upcoming political developments. Incidentally, the research team has managed to achieve another efficiency increase in the testing plant. If we can scale it the way we envisage, we’ll have enough time and resources to tackle the next ›Phoenix‹ phase in no time.«

»You are an incorrigible visionary, Charles…«

»I’m not. I’m simply determined. Israel is the first bastion that has to…«

He couldn’t complete the sentence. The door to his study was abruptly pushed open and Ted stumbled in. Charles turned around in alarm and dropped the receiver. Completely out of breath after his rapid climb up the stairs, Ted first placed his open palm behind his ear and then his index finger on his closed lips. Charles got it immediately. He carefully picked the receiver up again and continued as if nothing had happened.

»… Doris, my guests have just arrived. I have to go. Do you still remember our time together at St. Andrew‘s College?«

»Yes, but…?« The American Secretary of State blushed slightly. Fortunately she was on her own in her office at the White House.

»Always careful not to get caught…«

»You mean…« She now also understood.

»Exactly. I’m in the same predicament now here in the South of France.«

»Well, don’t let me stop you. See you.«

She put the receiver down and took a deep breath. The feelings they once had for each other were still there. Back then, they had had to meet in secret. Their fathers would never have endorsed a public relationship between their offspring. Both ambitious politicians – Whiteford a conservative Republican; Reeds a progressive Democrat - they were sworn enemies. Fortunately, her father hadn’t lived long enough to witness how Doris, the black sheep of the family, had rapidly advanced her career with the Democrats.

Charles turned around to Ted: »What in …«

Ted gestured to him again to keep silent and indicated that he should follow him. By now the property was swarming with armed security guards. Two of them escorted them outside to the grounds.

»I checked the Codec system. It’s fine. But Tariq’s remote analysis established that the house is bugged. I’ve activated the silent alarm.«

»Bugged? Since when?«

»Tariq’s working on it in California and the CIA phone-tapping specialists stationed in Marseille are on their way over here.«

»Thank you, Ted.« A while later Charles added: »You came at the right time. I was just about to chat to Doris about our plans after the pilot stage. But not everybody has to know about those right now.«

»Bring General Markowitz here,« the young intelligence officer ordered the even younger adjutant outside the door. »Immediately!«

»Beg your pardon, Sir, but the General is upstairs in the Knesset with the Prime Minister.«

»Are you deaf?!«

»But…«

»Right now. I will not repeat myself!« the officer snorted.

»Yes, Sir!« The adjutant saluted and left the situation room under the parliament building to fetch the special military advisor from the meeting.

»I sincerely hope you can explain your motives,« General Markowitz said after the glass door to the conference room closed behind him.

»I can, General. We have new information on the ›Icarus‹ case.«

The grey-haired General raised his eyebrows and sat down. Ever since he had initiated the ›Icarus‹ taskforce for the surveillance of the IWAC, it hadn’t produced any results to speak of. The organisation’s true objectives were still shrouded in mystery. Markowitz knew that the American organisation was much too powerful to pursue solely humanitarian aims. Its scientific activities and political connections were far too widely supported. There must be more at stake. Perhaps the ongoing political developments in the Palestine offered the opportunity to become politically active?

»What did you actually dig up?«

»We recorded a conversation between Reeds and Whiteford, the Secretary of State, in Marseille. Here’s the transcript. They obviously detected the bugs. Their chat stopped abruptly. But the last sentence before it did is interesting. Reeds says that the Israeli stronghold will be the first to fall.«

The general skimmed through the document.

»Right so. And now leave me alone.«

What is it with these rash youngsters? he wondered. Reeds’ anti-Israeli stance was well known. The sentence in itself signified nothing. Doubtful was only who would follow after the ›first to fall‹. Perhaps the right time to act had arrived after all. The question was how to further destabilise the Palestine which now found itself on shaky ground with Šarīf’s election. Politically, they wouldn’t be able to achieve anything with Eizenburg.

What a wimp of a Prime Minister. His connection to the IWAC fits perfectly. And the American President, like so many of his predecessors, believes he has found a platform for his own political profiling in Israel. How ridiculous. Reeds is right. A stronghold has to fall…

Markowitz extracted his mobile device from his pocket and inserted the encoder dongle: »Rishon, Kemuel here. I need you in Jerusalem for a special ›Icarus‹ mission! It’s time to become operational.«

Rishon was at his desk in the boarding school in Hodaya and confirmed the order.

»You’ll receive the file tomorrow. No other contact apart from that. No paper trail, no contact with the secret service, the army or me. This mission is strictly secret. You and your team are on your own. You understand ?«

»Affirmative. ›Icarus‹ will learn how to fly.«

»I’m relying on you, just as I relied on your father.«

Weisz leaned back. He’s still the same tough old soldier. As Eizenburg‘s highest-ranking special military advisor, Markowitz wasn’t part of any direct military or intelligence chain of command. He was officially regarded as the liberal mediator between the army command and the Prime Minister.

Weisz knew from his father that Markowitz was indeed a true hardliner – or at least had been in the past. The Colonel guessed that he still was. He didn’t believe in the biblical transformation from Saul to Paul. Admittedly, from the time of his father’s funeral three years earlier until the General’s inauguration he hadn’t heard from him. The telephone call two years ago had accordingly been quite a surprise. »Rishon, this is a chat among friends; nothing official. I need you close to me. I’m worried about the situation in Gaza.«

»General Markowitz, I work as a covert recruitment officer for the Academy. My superiors…«

»That’s no problem. I’ll look after that. You won’t lose track of your pupils. Your cover is perfect. I need two new teams. An active one for reconnaissance and a standby one for operations. This is about the IWAC; about uncovering their objectives and activities. We simply don’t know enough about them, and Eizenburg will do anything to stop us finding out more. This is why you have to work from the outside. We’ll establish the base at the Academy in Haifa. You can work there undisturbed.«

»Who will I report to?«

»No one but me!«

The Colonel was aware that something wasn’t quite right. No doubt, the Israeli secret service was also interested in the IWAC. Apparently inadequately or not sufficiently results-oriented. As usual, it wasn’t clear where the real enemy was hiding. In their own ministries, in foreign governments and organisations or, always the most simple solution, among the ranks of radical Islamists and their cohorts.

The only thing the active and the infiltrated agents had discovered over the two years was an operation with the code name ›Phoenix‹. Nothing else. Or have they? Have I overlooked something that’s important to the old General?

The operations file he held in his hands the following day was very much to his taste. The taste of blood. Weisz pulled out a tattered black notebook. It contained all the names he required for the mission.

»During the cabinet meeting we decided to accept President Davidson’s offer of mediation. All the Generals, except Markowitz, were vehemently opposed,« Eizenburg reported impassively.

»Where and when will the first meeting take place?« Charles enquired at the other end of the line.

»Next Monday at the Willy Brandt Centre in Jerusalem. Šarīf is prepared to attend under the condition that the Americans guarantee his safety. He apparently still thinks that we’re not on top of the situation,« he added derisively.

»Thanks to his victory, he is exposed to all sides. I hope you’ll still control the situation.«

»Of course we will take care of the security arrangements for everyone present at the meeting!«

»Thank you, Liron. It would be fantastic if the post-election situation would actually relax.«

»I’ll talk to Davidson and do my best.«

In a few short days we’ll see if we backed the right candidates, Charles thought. That night he didn’t find much rest. Even in the early hours of the morning, the heat didn’t leave the walls of Trois-Ruisselets.